All coffee trees start as little beans. The growing process takes approximately 3 months with daily watering to keep them damp. Once the stem of the coffee plant immerges it will come up with the bean then the two leaves will emerge. We then wait for the plant to be a decent size before planting them out in their forever areas.
The coffee trees grow in the shade of other trees and are planted in rows with good spacing. All old old tree stumps or branches are removed and the camps are cleaned routinely to ensure our trees are pest free.
It takes approximately 3-5 years for the new plantings to begin to produce. Once the coffee tree has reached this bearing age delicate white flowers will appear all down the stems. These flowers are then pollinated by our own bees from hives on the farms.
The green beans will appear after the flowers are finished and will start to ripen turning a light yellow reddish color.
The beans will be ready to be picked once they are very dark red and a little soft to the touch. These are at the height of their flavor and these are the ones we pick.
Once the cherries are picked they are set out to dry in the sun. Some coffee farmers skin their beans first, then dry the beans. We leave the skins on the bean as it absorbs the flavor of the cherry.
Our drying trays are a mesh to allow air circulation from below as well, and the drying beans are closed when bad weather is near to protect them from rain.
Drying usually takes a week weather dependent.
Keeping the same days pickings together makes it easier to know how long they have been drying for.
Once the beans are dried we place them in a deep freezer for a week to ensure if any bugs got in there they are killed.
The beans are then returned to the a mesh tray to ensure they are dry and sent off to our peelers and then the roaster. This gives us the most aromatic and flavorful coffee!
Everything has a cycle, even the coffee beans. Once the beans are taken to get pealed we bring back the dry husks and use them in the bottom of our chicken coops, which in turn gets made into compost and other “good for plants” concoctions.
Dark Roast Arabica Coffee Beans (1 Pound)
1 Pound of freshly roasted artisanal coffee.