Making a cup of coffee might seem like the easiest thing in the world. But have you thought of all the people who help make that coffee? About 60 million people are involved in the coffee industry. Read on and see how much work and care has gone into your cup.
It all starts on the plantations, where farmers tend to the coffee plants and harvest the coffee cherries, usually by hand. The next thing they have to do is separate the bean from the outer shell of the cherry. This is done either by drying the beans in the sun or by washing them in a pulping machine.
The dry beans have a greenish tinge and are therefore known as 'green beans'. They are usually exported for blending and roasting.
By combining different types of beans you can give the resulting coffee a more rounded taste. Once you have the right blend of beans, the most important phase of coffee production begins: the roasting.
It is not until the green beans are roasted that they release the coffee aroma and flavor. Depending on the roasting equipment and the desired flavor of the coffee, green beans are roasted at between 180°C and 240°C for between three and 12 minutes.
Before it can be brewed, the roasted coffee must be ground. Grinding increases the surface area of the coffee, allowing the flavor to be extracted more easily.
To make soluble coffee, the ground coffee is brewed and then dried. The drying can either be hot, in a spray drier, or cold, in a freeze drier.
Finally the coffee is packed and sent to the stores.