Help - ?weevils in my green beans

[Eleanor]

Aplogies if this in the wrong thread. I was horrified to find today that my last 3 bags of green beans I bought last May have what I think are weevils in them. One bag is very heavily infested and the other two just have a few little critters.

The bags are the Coffeesnobs zipped calico bags and they have been stored in an enclosed garage on a trolley with the Behmor roaster. They are not stored near any food. All three lots of beans have been roasted previously with no sign of these pests.

I need advice on 1) what to do with them now. Do I just throw them out? They are in the freezer at present. And 2) when I buy my next lot what is the best way of storing them?

Thanks for any advice

[TC]

An email to Andy would have been a more appropriate first step.

Any weevil moths ever existed in your garage?

[Eleanor]

O.K, thanks will send Andy an email. No weevils in the garage, no food stored there, and no animals there either. Very surprised to see them.

[daledugahole]

I got a bag of green beans once direct from a roaster..... When I got home I realised it was full of weevils too. I wasn't to sure what to do with them, so I told him next time I was in there.... He said 200 odd deg sorts them out, and not to worry! Couldn't bring myself to roast them...... Snobby? Maybe....

[swrd]

Well that's gross

[Burnsy]

Sift them out using your bean cooler before roasting the beans?

[CAELBLUE1]

I've had to sift 20kgs of flour when living in remote QLD, just to clear a weevil infestation. Be a lot easier to just roast them and come back and let us know how the coffee tasted.

[habahabanero]

An email to Andy would have been a more appropriate first step.

Any weevil moths ever existed in your garage?

I don't think the OP was suggesting the weevils came from Andy - they would have shown up long before now if they did. I'm curious what they are - I didn't think a lot of insects eat coffee beans due to the caffeine content. Any chance you could post a mugshot of the culprits Eleanor?

[Andy]

Interesting thread!

In the near 10 years we have been doing this we might have handled something like 3 to 400,000 kilos of green beans and have had a total of ZERO pests here but we are a fair bit cooler climate than QLD (the insect state that everything grows big, fast and often nasty!!!!)

There are a few insects at coffee origin that will eat the flesh of the cherry and there are coffee borers that will burrow into the seed (bean) which you can find traces of easily in most coffees but I've never heard of coffee borer making it into the country and the hurdles that we have to jump with AQIS (DAFF) on quarantine samples makes it near impossible to land a live critter. ...besides, if we did then we would have 100's of reports all over the country and would certainly see them here at the Snobbery too.

Typically processed green beans have no appeal to any pests, insects or vermin and it might be something else that nested there?

I agree with the above post, I would be curious to know exactly what they are. Maybe put some in a jar and see what they turn into?!?!

I would be betting they are a local moth or similar that has laid eggs in the cotton bag .

[Eleanor]

Andy, too late to grow them, they are frozen! Yep, in Queensland we throw in the freezer if the food moves. They looked like a weevil and I just measured one, about 2.5m x 1 m. Frozen they look like dark dots. Wished I thought to take a photo while the critters were still alive.

Sorry, I can't work out how to add photos. I will send them to you Andy via email. This is interesting that I have three bags with 'visitors' - had no idea this wasn't a common occurrence.

I really don't think I will be roasting these beans!

[DesigningByCoffee]

… I just measured one, about 2.5m x 1 m.

Hooley Dooley! They could eat a 60kg sack in one gulp!

There's a new pay TV show "Coffee Monsters with Andy Freeman"

[Eleanor]

LOL! Oops,we do grow them big in Queensland.. Should be 2.5mm x 1mm..

[Minidoos]

I just got a couple of bags. Found holes in some of the beans. Berry Borer, Weevil - Small perfectly round holes, when I brake the bean open and there is a blue mold and its hollow. Andy said its organic. What I want to know is as I didn't see anything crawling around can I just sift them out without having them spread? Will any beans without holes be moldy inside? Eg. They live in the bean and leave the bean as a moth. So my logic is saying yes possibley they could have caused damage to other beans inside but it is not visable from the outside. Hoping to get a bit more info so I don't have to send them back.

[artman]

Wouldn't the roasting temps negate / kill any potential negative effects of the mould?

Cheers

[herzog]

Keen to hear some tasting notes!