Antigua Cultural Coffee House brings to you, the consumer, coffee that is the best in quality. The following is information that the majority of coffee-consumers normally do not know. Feel free to take a few minutes to read through this info. to know more about the coffee you drink from Antigua Cultural Coffee House. Wonder where the flavor comes from no more.
Harvesting and Field Processing
The cherries of the Arabica coffee tree show they are ready for picking when they turn a bright red color. There are two methods used for the picking process: strip harvesting (with machines) and hand picking. Although using machines is much faster, it has its limitations in that a machine is not able to tell the difference between a ripe cherry and an immature one. At the Antigua Cultural Coffee House Company, the preferred and used method is hand picking. Although it is more time consuming, it allows for greater discrimination and ultimately produces the finest harvests.
Once picked, the cherries are ready for the removal of the outer layers of skin. This is done in order to expose the inner bean for further processing. There are two methods that can be used: the “natural” or dry method and the “washed” or wet method. In the dry method, the bean is allowed to remain on the tree past the fully ripe stage and is partially dried before harvesting. This method is simpler and cheaper, but the result is often a bean of poorer quality than when the coffee is “washed.” At the Antigua Cultural Coffee House Company, the wet method is used. In the wet (or “washed”) process, the ripe fruit is squeezed in a pulping machine. The result is an exposed layer of slippery mucilage. The mucilage is washed with water and then dried. Although it is the more expensive of the two methods used, it yields the finer coffees.
Lastly, the beans are sorted, which is done by size and color. Specialty grade coffees represent the most selected of all coffees available. Hand sorting it typically done to include only the beans with certain moisture content, uniformity, and lack of imperfections. This heavy sorting process allows us to offer you coffee that provides a sharp, “clean” flavor in the cup.
