K for coffee cherry harvest

Coffee cherry briefly explained?

The coffee plant belongs to the Rubiaceae family, which includes almost 500 genera with over 6,000 species. The fruit of the coffee plant turns red when it is ripe and looks like a cherry, hence the name coffee cherry. The coffee cherry is edible, the flesh is sweet but the outer skin of the coffee cherry is very bitter and therefore not edible. Generally, they can only be enjoyed shortly after harvesting as the fruit cannot be stored for long and quickly begins to ferment.the two most important coffee varieties are Arabica and Robusta, from which conventional coffee is made.

The last aspect of a barista's daily work is the care and maintenance of their equipment. Here, too, he or she must know which points are important. After all, good equipment for a barista is associated with enormous costs and only professional care will ensure a long service life. Now comes the coffee cherry harvesting in the next paragraph.

How is coffee made from the coffee cherry fruit?

After the 10-month ripening process and the 10 to 12-week harvest of the coffee cherries, processing begins in order to extract the coffee beans from the fruit. Processing must be carried out in good time as the fruit does not keep for long and cannot be transported, and there are two types of processing:

Dry processing
In dry processing, the fruit is harvested and everything that does not belong in it is separated in a water bath. They are then dried for approx. 2 to 3 weeks and then deseeded. During this process, the peel, pulp, mucilage and parchment skin are removed. Finally, the beans are sorted again according to size and defective beans are discarded. 

Wet processing
During wet processing, the fruit is carefully sorted by size by hand and separated from all dirt and unripe or overripe fruit. They are then "de-pulped", as the process is called, by separating the bean from the pulp. However, the mucilage layer underneath remains and sets a fermentation process in motion due to the moisture. After fermentation, the beans are washed and the remaining pulp and mucilage are removed. The beans are then dried and subsequently peeled. During this process, the dried parchment skin and as much of the silver skin as possible are removed.