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Home Processing of Coffee Beans

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  • Home Processing of Coffee Beans

    I've looked but haven't found any topics on growing and processing and then roasting your OWN beans at home. Picking the coffee cherries is no problem but labour time is involved. Fermenting them to remove some of the outer shell is also no big deal just time consuming. Drying them in the sun is also no great imposition so that the outer chaff on the bean is brittle enough to remove when you rub a bean between your fingers to test readiness, but takes some care and awhile. I hope you are starting to realise this is a labour intensive process. Trying to remove that chaff from the outer bean to expose some of the last silk layer is damn difficult if you want to do it in bulk. Have any CS members got some suggestions other than elbow grease. Is there a machine of home use size? I have seen a lot of options, even abrading the beans under hard timber as a solution. I have 9 coffee bushes now and just one looks like it has around 5 kg of cherries on it, so I will need a solution soon. At the moment I am processing just half a kilo and it has taken over a week. Grateful for any suggestions, ideas or links that I am not aware of.

    Why do this? Green beans can keep for up to 2 years and aren't some CS members interested in their terroir?

  • #2
    I'll amend a comment in this post above. I was told by a roaster that green beans could keep for two years if stored correctly, but Scott Rao and a much more experienced CS'er than me indicated that 6 months might be more accurate for premium storage life.

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    • #3
      There's more posts/thread on here about it but this is the first one that popped up: https://coffeesnobs.com.au/forum/cof...-but-then-what


      Java "Search what?" phile
      Toys! I must have new toys!!!

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      • #4
        I've picked 50kg of fruit so far this year which is about 50%. Once you start getting into larger amounts doing it by hand becomes too difficult & tedious. You can buy small batch hand Pulpers & Hullers locally. It's still a manually intensive job. I stopped using the fermentation processing, and opted for more of a honey process to improve flavour. Small batches makes it easier to prevent issues such as mould etc forming. Due to the low altitude (Brisbane) beans tend to be softish and you have to roast carefully.

        There are a few threads on CS already regarding home growing.

        Graham

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        • Dartiguan
          Dartiguan commented
          Editing a comment
          Graham, do you have any links to the hand pulpers and hullers you mention?

        • tompoland
          tompoland commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks Graham, if you can, please provide more specifics as to what "carefully" looks like. Appreciated.

      • #5
        Buderim, where I live, was a coffee growing area back to 1880. Here from Trove is an excerpt from the Nambour Chronicle 26th Feb 1954.
        ‘Buderim Coffee
        SHADOW OF FORMER
        INDUSTRY
        A unique Buderim industry,
        that belongs to the past, was the
        growing and manufacture of
        coffee.
        Coffee grows well on Buderim
        soil, and the manufactured article
        was of excellent quality.
        After the last war, farmers
        found strawberry and bean
        growing more profitable, and the
        beautiful dark green, glossy
        leaved bushes were taken out,
        and the ground ploughed for
        small crops.
        A few residents still retain a
        few bushes, and find it well
        worth while to make their own
        delicious brew from home-grown
        beans.

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        • #6
          There are a number of coffee plantations further North, as well as Northern NSW, and a local one on Mt Tambourine. Generally they do not sell green coffee, (I have tried to buy at a few plantations I visited). I suspect it's too expensive to process, and they would probably have to do a lot more sizing & sorting if they were to sell to the public.

          I have PM'd you links to the Pulpers & Hullers sold locally. (Northern NSW).

          Graham

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          • #7
            "Carefully" for me means a slowish heat ramp-up during drying and constant monitoring. It very difficult to hear 1C if at all, so you have use all your senses (sight, smell & hearing), experience and a little guesswork to manage the roast to not let it get away from you or to "bake" it.

            The outcomes I have had are not too bad so far, considering the amount of manual work from growing thru to roasting , but doubt it will win any awards.

            Comment


            • tompoland
              tompoland commented
              Editing a comment
              Thanks that is very helpful indeed.

          • #8
            This is one of the original threads about growing, although last updated in 2019:

            Growing coffee - CoffeeSnobs

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