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  • I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

    8-)

    greetings one and all,

    i ahve just moved on to a property that has 4 coffee trees growing and the beans are ready to start picking... but i have tried a couple of suggested methods (other websites) which includes shucking them and leaving them to ferment in a bucket of water. and just letting the red berries dry out and then shuck them. neither really works as they are labour intensive. (think village women sitting cross-legged)...

    so, im after any suggestions...

    also i bought a popper converted it witha soup can and (other than voiding the warranty) managed to burn the coffee beans with out hearing a crack at all... once again any suggestions (or critisisms are very welcome)

    cheers

    Julie :-*

  • #2
    Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

    Sorry Julie I cant help re the bean processing.
    My two plants are barely 8 inches high at the moment so i have no experience yet.

    As for the popper, if you burned the beans they should have cracked first.
    Maybe youre deafer than I am.

    Which popper do you have?

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    • #3
      Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

      I remember somebodys sage advice involved stuffing a wet pillowcase or hessian sack full of the coffie cherries and going battleship Potempkin on their ass!, banging away against a pillar post! Does this ring any bells for you?

      Good luck,

      Robster

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      • #4
        Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

        Haha robster!

        Ive also got some trees, which are still fruiting now. I lost most of my cherries when we had non stop rain for 3 weeks, they all split open and became ant fodder.

        However, there were a few freaks that ripened up a month or two early.. so I experimented.

        You have 3 methods for processing, as you know, dry or wet or semi. To dry process simply pick em off, and sun dry them as they are, until youre confident that theyre dry enough. Search around for pictures of the drying stage so you can see.. First theyll go black, and shrivel up, and then they lighten up a bit I think.

        The wet processing method involves the ‘fermentation’. What you do is pop your seeds out of the cherries (youll see that they have a mucilage on them which is sorta slippery and stuff), you put your seeds into water for around 12-48 hours.. the water reacts with the mucilage and breaks it down for you - theyll feel more rough than slippery - rinse them off, then dry them in the sun. I tried this at home and had the best results, but the particular seeds I used were the freak ones and they were.. well, tiny to be honest.. plus I was slack with the drying and they didnt quite get dry enough.

        Semi involves pulping them then sundrying, so no fermenting or washing at all, so its sorta in between.

        Once theyre dry enough, you can get most of the remaining hull or parchment off in your food processor apparently (WITH PLASTIC things instead of blades.. most food processors come with something suitable).. just quick bursts, nothing serious.

        Anyway, have a gawk at this for a start:
        http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/processing.htm
        http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/drying.htm
        http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=69

        Good luck, and post photos so we can have a gawk ay?!!!!

        Rolley

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        • #5
          Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!



          well i have tried both soaking them (days later they were still covered by their mucilage) and then tried the dry lay in the sun method but the little buggers wouldnt come out of their shells when i wanted them to (did give them a good whack tho which did help to some degree).

          the second and third attempt at roasting in the modified popper (that is with can wrapped around) still didnt produce a crack!!! ??? :-/

          So i was told by some smartie locals that they werent dry enough! but my thoughts are that they might be too dry so that the moisture doesnt expand and cause the crack... but i could be wrong! i did slowly heat them near the open fire to help dry them out and they did feel very dry!

          HELP!!!

          Julie :-*

          ps attached picture of one of the trees (dont know how to send multiple photos so cant send shots of the popper this time
          [img][/img]

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

            Hi julieleanne

            I have about 20 trees and have just finished drying this years crop.  Here is what I do.

            First thing is make lots of spare time. Give the kids a bucket each and send them to the trees.  It takes them about 1 hour to pick 2 buckets full.

            Pulping is the worst part and the most boring. The 3 ways I have done it. The 1st year by hand, nope not doing that again. 2nd year large tin bucket and big hunk of wood and beat the c@#p out of them. This year with a food processor, with blunt metal blades works the best so far. Next year I hope to have a pulper.

            I don’t ferment them I just dry them in a food dryer at 35c for a  day or two. Next is hulling use the food possessor and blunt metal blades again and a hair dryer with no heat. Put a few hand fulls of beans in the possessor and put it on high. I stick the hair dryer in one of the inlet shoots and all the hulls blow out the other shoot. Then is off to the roaster plenty of info on this site on that.

            2 x 10l buckets gives me about 2-3 kg of green beans with about 4-5 hours of possessing. Its cheaper to buy the green beans off bean bay but there is something about drinking your own coffee that makes it priceless. Just finished a cup of this years crop while writing this . YUM

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            • #7
              Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

              haha yeah that sounds awesome. mmm 20 trees, my dream!
              hey Julie, from my memory, if you cant get the hull off easily then they must be still too moist, so Id agree with your local smarties on that one ; )
              I found it pretty easy .. and mine were still too moist. the hull came off by pressing it REEEEEEEEEALLY hard and scraping it off with my hands, but the seeds themselves were too dark..
              Anyway, sounds awesome, nice photo too. GOOD LUCK! : )
              Hey scrub bull throw a couple of pics up ay!?
              Cheers
              Rolley

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              • #8
                Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                Do you girls and guys have your plants in full sun or part shade?

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                • #9
                  Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                  Some in full shade, some in part shade and a few in full sun. I have a few different varieties to grow them in different spots. We are just playing around to see what tasted good and which grows the best.

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                  • #10
                    Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                    Hey folks,fantastic to see others getting their hands dirty as well as me. Wet processing is the way to go.....make sure your cherries are as dark red as possible and pick them in the afternoon sun because it forces all the natural sugars into the cherry.The beans should feel loose in the cherry skin when rolled between thumb and forefinger and should easily pop out.Then put your beans in a bucket and cover with water,about 40 mls above beans.Place your bucket in a warm location and watch what happens.The fermentation process can take between 24-72 hours depending on ripeness of cherry and constant ambient temperature.Once fermentation has finished rinse the beans several times to remove any mucilage that may remain because this can cause fungal growths in the drying and storage. Place beans in a sunny dry area with good air flow and rotate them reguarly for up to 25 days,but make sure they dont get any moisture.Once dried place beans into a hessian sack and keep in a cool dry verman proof area with air flow for a minimum of 3 months. After that the beans will need to be hulled and the best way to do that is with a hulling machine,they cost heaps to buy,but by "rubbing your beans together vigorously"you should achieve a reasonable result. Then....on to the roaster.........see,you can do it.

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                    • #11
                      Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                      Cool!

                      all the trees i have are in complete shade under a giant Balck Bean tree.

                      how can i post more photos at once rather than one at a time???

                      ciao

                      Julie :-*

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                      • #12
                        Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                        Originally posted by julieleanne link=1184494613/0#10 date=1185335696
                        ....how can i post more photos at once rather than one at a time???

                        ciao

                        Julie   :-*
                        Hi Julie- you need to use one of the many image hosting services- for example www.photobucket.com.

                        You can upload photos there and you will be provided with a link to paste in here which will load the images for you...

                        2mcm

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                        • #13
                          Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                          Ive found the trees, probably only when theyre young, are easily killed off by dry winds. I went away for a week and come back and one was completely dead. It happened to be the only tree out in the open, part sun part shade, but the region had had strong winds all week and everything was dry as a bone.
                          The others, well, whats left of the others, (my dogs pulled one out and completely ruined it) - the one that has the most shade does the best. I have one popping out into an almost full sun position and it seems to be burned most of the time (unless the tree has some other deficiency)..
                          :
                          Rolley

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                          • #14
                            Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                            When they are young they should be treated as children.....well fed,kept warm,and in a nice shadey spot away from the wind and any predators that may be lurking around.Check to see if the main stem is still green because they come back real well if given a chance.They are a shallow rooted plant and love a bit of well rotted humus as it keeps the roots moist and protects them from our lovely Aussie sun.

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                            • #15
                              Re: I grow the beans, but then what?!!!

                              Hi,

                              here are the beans after i took them out of their shells.... it was that dificult when bashed them witha piece of pine



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