The Coffee Process

The Bean 

Coffee is an amazing agricultural crop that continues to provide scientists new found data on its proliferating qualities.  It remains a highly traded commodity in the world and the future outlook of it is very bright.  Below is a simple breakdown of this bean and how it goes from a seed to a cup of Red Clover Coffee.

The Seedling

The coffee bean is actually a seed. There are usually two seeds inside a cherry-like fruit on the tree. These seeds can be planted to produce a coffee plant. Some can turn into trees, but they are usually pruned short to make harvesting easier.

The Leaves

The leaves are the power plant of the coffee tree. Through photosynthesis, they are able to provide all the nutrition needed to allow growth.

The Flowers

The flowers are formed and they smell like paradise.  This happens when the tree is about three years old and after a heavy rainfall. (Pictured:  New flowers alongside coffee cherries.) Each flowering can lead to a harvest. While some areas are able to harvest twice a year, some can only harvest once a year.

The Cherries

In six to eight weeks the flowers fall away and are replaced with coffee cherries. Green cherries are not ripe, but as time passes the green cherries turn to the beautiful colors of red, yellow, pink, and orange. The cherries contain a few layers with the protective part that everyone is familiar with.

The Seeds (The Green Coffee Bean)

The seeds are the part of the coffee tree that we use every morning and throughout the day. There are two seeds in each cherry, unless it is a peaberry (which is formed into one). They undergo a detailed process to clean off the remnants of the cherry and look like green beans when the task is complete.

The Roasting

The green coffee beans are loaded into a roasting machine and transformed into the dark bean we all know and love. During this process the green bean loses around 20 percent of its weight, but doubles in size! After roasting, they are cooled and prepared for packaging.

Finished Product

We hope you learned something new and this highlighted the amazing journey it takes for a bean to make a cup of coffee. Thanks for giving Red Clover Coffee the opportunity to give back!