|
Cultivation
and Processing
 Coffee
grows in subtropical and equatorial regions at elevations
between sea level and 6300 feet. There are two main species
of coffee plants: Arabica and Robusta. Robusta is low grown,
hearty and prolific. Arabica is high grown, more delicate
and less prolific. Robusta is, in general, rough tasting.
Arabica, in general, is sweeter and more nuanced. We only
use robusta in one espresso blend, and then in a relatively
small amount. All the reset of our coffees are arabicas.
 Coffee
trees take three to four years before they begin bearing fruit.
The first sign of maturity are small white flowers. The flowers
drop away and a pinhead size nub is left. The bean grows to
about the size of a cranberry and changes from green to red.
A bright to deep red color indicates the cherry is ready to
harvest. But they don't all change at the same time. So a
harvest, generally by hand, includes 4 or 5 passes over the
same trees, picking only the ripe, red cherry.
 The
cherries are pulped by a mill and the seed (bean) removed.
At this stage the bean is covered in a sticky, gelatinous
substance called mucilage. The mucilage is removed by using
water and pressure (washed coffees) or placed in the sun to
dry (natural coffees) or by a combination of the two methods.
A final milling takes place to remove the last bit of husk
surrounding the dried bean. We then have green coffee that
is ready to be roasted.
Selection and Roasting
We evaluate offers of green coffee
from growers and brokers on a regular basis. There is a huge
amount of coffee in the world so we limit ourselves by dealing
with people who offer only specialty grade (the top 5%) of
the Arabica crop. Even so we get offered a lot of coffee that
we take a pass on. We examine the green coffee for color,
defects and odor and we sample roast it and evaluate the roasted
sample using a standardized cupping format.
Once we purchase green coffee we develop
the right roast profile (time, temperature ramp, air flow,
drop temperature and final color) for that coffee. If we are
doing a dark roast we repeat the process. We check our work
by cupping production samples every day.
Still roasting comes down to the experience
and sensory skills of our roastmaster. Roasting is an artisan
craft and nothing can duplicate those skills in determining
just the right time to 'drop' the coffee out of the roaster.
Take a peek behind behind the
scenes at Orleans Coffee Exchange to learn more.
We roast many coffees everyday and
we roast to order. The coffee you buy from us is as fresh
as any coffee available on the Internet.
|
