Mixed Farmers FTO

The process

When the coffee has been received at Cafesmo, the unripe beans, leaves, or anything else that is not a ripe bean will be discarded. The next step is the de-pulping process, where the beans are separated from the husk. The de-pulped beans are still covered by a viscous substance called the mucilage. So, during the next step, this mucilage is removed, the parchment loses its mucous-like texture and it becomes less slick. Usually, the process of removing the mucilage takes around 12 to 24 hours, although this also depends on the temperature, the thickness of the mucilage, and the concentration of enzymes. Once the mucilage is fully removed, the coffee can be dried. Most of the coffee is dried in the sun, but we sometimes use our mechanical drier, or a combination of both, depending on the weather and on the coffee volume that needs to be dried. Drying in the sun is either on our large patio, or in our solar dryers. The beans are spread out in a layer which varies from 2 to 10 centimeters in thickness, and are being raked frequently to assure a uniform drying process of all the beans. It can take from five to ten days to reach the desired level of humidity of 11% for this coffee, again depending on the meteorological circumstances.