Harvesting Coffee (#)

„To maximize the amount of ripe coffee harvested it is necessary to selectively pick the ripe beans from the tree by hand and leave behind unripe, green beans to be harvested at a later time.  In Brazil, harvesting the same tree several times is more cost prohibitive than separating and discarding the unripe or overripe cherries.  Therefore, Brazil typically harvests using the stripping method when 75% of the crop is perfectly ripe.  Stripping is feasible and cost effective in Brazil due to the uniform maturation of Brazilian coffees.  In stripping the beans are pulled from the tree and fall to the ground where they are caught by sheets.  The beans are removed from tree debris by tossing the coffee in the air allowing the wind to carry away sticks and leaves.  The coffee is then put in 60 L green baskets, which is the tool are measurement used by coffee producers to determine wages.  Some estates, such as Fazenda Monte Alegre in Sul de Minas Brazil, have a computerized system to determine wages, which accounts for the amount of coffee collected from each person, the difficulty of the harvesting conditions, and the production of the region being harvested.“

http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/ harvesting.htm - Cached

Coffee Decaffeination (#)

„In the Swiss Water Process the green beans are soaked in hot water to remove the caffeine and compounds responsible for much of the flavor of the coffee.  The first batch of beans is then discarded, while the caffeine is stripped from the solution by means of activated carbon filters.  This leaves a solution saturated with flavor compounds, which is then used to soak a new batch of green coffee.  The principle is that the solution is saturated with all components soluble in water other than caffeine, and therefore only the caffeine in the bean is allowed to escape whereas the rest of the compounds are in equilibrium.  Unfortunately, the flavor of batches is intermixed since the chemically saturated solution is used repeatedly.“

http://www.coffeeresearch.org/science/ decaffeination.htm - Cached

The Coffee Review - the world's leading coffee buying guide (#)

„Another direct processing method similar to the one above often described as the "natural process," uses a decaffeination agent called ethyl acetate, a compound found in fruits such as apples, peaches, and pears. In the indirect extraction process, often loosely referred to as the "water process," green beans are soaked for several hours in a near-boiling water solution saturated with coffee flavor components. Caffeine, which is water soluble at temperatures above 175 F, is removed from the beans, along with other critical coffee oils and flavor elements. The solution is drained and methylene chloride is added to absorb the caffeine.“

http://www.coffeereview.com/article.cfm?id=20 - Cached

CoffeeGeek - Roast-your-own coffee business goes green (#)

„"We stock gourmet beans from Malawi, Yemen, India, Papua New Guinea, Burundi -- countries dominated by small coffee farmers with distinctive tasting beans that are generally unavailable here, not just in the supermarket chains but also through high-end retailers such as Starbucks and Second Cup," says Lawrence Solomon, Green Beanery's founder. By bringing these beans to the public, we plan to expand the market for the Third World's small farmers while supporting research into activities that harm small farmers around the world."“

http://www.coffeegeek.com/resources/pressreleases/ greenbeanery2004sept15 - Cached

International Coffee Organization (#)

„If the caffeine is removed by a solvent, this is known as an 'indirect solvent' method; otherwise, the caffeine may be separated from the extract by adsorption onto a substance such as activated carbon (charcoal). The caffeine-free extract is then used to decaffeinate the green coffee, as caffeine passes readily from the beans into the extract. However, these methods also result in the loss of some other water-soluble components of coffee such as carbohydrates and chlorogenic acids.“

http://www.ico.org/acoff/caffeine.htm - Cached

Tea & Coffee 11/00 - Stamping “International” On Espresso Coffee (#)

„A green coffee importer once referred with fondness but clear condescension to roasters as mere “bean cookers.” He was right in that some roasters aren’t well informed about coffee origins and qualities. Nor do they do much more in the long chain of events leading up to putting coffee in the cup than pour the green beans they’ve been delivered into a big roaster and cook them away into the never-never land of a fully automatic technology that may or may not have a happy result.“

http://www.teaandcoffee.net/1100/coffee.htm - Cached

Tea & Coffee 11/03 - A Coffee Roaster Museum (#)

„Instead of roasting coffee in an open pan, a rotating iron ball container enabled beans of a consistent quality to be roasted with the desired characteristics of aroma and flavor. Together with wholesalers based in Emmerich, and leading German green coffee importers - who found that roasted beans sold far better than green - a machine-making company was founded in 1868 as the Emmericher Maschinenfabrik & Eisengiesserei, better known today as Probat.“

http://www.teaandcoffee.net/1103/coffee.htm - Cached

Tea & Coffee 10/00 - Following the Viennese Coffeehouse Tradition (#)

„Until the mid-19th century, coffeehouses followed the sometimes hit-or-miss method of roasting green beans on kitchen stoves. But then Julius Meinl developed a process which could supply roasted coffee of a consistently high quality. In 1862 he opened a retail store in Vienna, the first to come forward with the sensational idea of supplying coffee already roasted.“

http://www.teaandcoffee.net/1000/retail.htm - Cached

Home Roasting Indoors with the Hearthware (INeedCoffee.com) (#)

„Personally, I drink 1 pound a coffee a week. If green beans average $5 a pound and commercially roasted coffee averages $10 a pound then it will take 26 weeks for machine to pay for itself. The popcorn popper solution is still the cheapest, but if you are like me, living in a cold winter environment, then having an indoor Roaster like Precision is a real treat.“

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/00/01/hearthware/ - Cached

Coffee History - Learn about coffee... (#)

„This involves rubbing off the parchment layer and polishing the bean for an attractive appearance. At this point the coffee beans are a light green to bluish color. The coffee is then graded. This means the coffee is basically sorted by size, shape and imperfections.“

http://www.javacafe.com/cofhistory02.htm - Cached

Amazon.com: Gourmet Food: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Coffee, 1-lb Whole Beans (Green Coffee Beans. Require Roasting.) (#)

„GREEN COFFEE BEANS. REQUIRES ROASTING. Most of the coffee gathered is still from wild trees giving this coffee a truly exotic flavor with a pleasant acidity, a thick rich body and an earthy complex aroma of cinnamon and sweet strawberries.“

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/ b0001nybqa?v=glance - Cached