When it comes to finding the favorite type of coffee, it’s all about what it tastes like when drinking. But do you realize that the different flavors of coffee come from the different processing methods and the natural coffee beans process is one of those?
Definition of natural coffee beans
Natural coffee beans are also called unwashed coffee beans, referring to the full-dried method when processing coffee beans after picking them up from trees for preparing for roasted step. This is the oldest method of processing, which requires much sunshine and is suitable for some dry countries such as Brazil and Ethiopia.
Coffee beans in nature
Ways to make natural coffee beans
Coffee drying is a post-harvest process that generally preserves coffee quality rather than improving it. There are some main steps to dry coffee beans:
Step 1: The coffee cherries are spread out under the sunshine right after picking up to dry evenly in about 1 month.
Step 2: The cherries are raked and rotated regularly during the drying period to slow down the process of fermentation and reduce the risk of rotting in the sun.
Step 3: Once the coffee cherries are fully dried, then they are brought to separate beans out of skin and pulp.
How does the natural process affect the flavor of coffee beans?
Natural coffee beans tend to have rich flavor because when reaching the required moisture, the amount of the sugar in the cherries converts into the coffee beans. This method can also make natural coffee beans taste more fermented than fully washed coffee beans because they are carefully controlled when processing to avoid over-fermenting.
Pros and cons of when making natural coffee beans
Each of the methods has its own benefits and backward, depending on the demand that producers choose the suitable way to process coffee.
Advantage of natural coffee beans:
The biggest advantage of natural coffee beans is that those coffee beans have the richest in flavor because they retain the most sugar.
Besides, when making natural coffee beans, farmers do not need much water to wash coffee beans like a fully-washed process, therefore it does not do harm to the environment as the fully-washed one.
The disadvantage of natural coffee beans:
The natural process is only suitable for areas where abundant sunshine dries the coffee beans. It is difficult to use this method on a large scale because it costs so much if farmers do it right.
Main regions that provide natural coffee beans to the world
For a long time did the coffee appear and there are the main regions that provide natural coffee beans:
Brazil
Brazil has been the world’s largest coffee producer for more than 150 years. Today, Brazil grows about a third of the world’s coffee, although in the past its share was as high as 80%. Coffee was introduced to Brazil from the French colony of Guiana in 1727. The first coffee tree in Brazil was planted by Francisco de Melo Palheta in the Para region in the north of the country.
- Processing methods are diverse, with mainly popular methods are dry processing and traditional Pulped Natural processing.
- The majority of Brazilian coffee traded in the world comes from six main regions: Minas Gerais (1.22 million hectares); Espirito Santo (433,000 ha); São Paulo (216,000 ha); Bahia (171,000 ha); Rondonia (95,000 ha); the last is Parana (49,000 ha).
- Brazil cultivates both main types of coffee, Arabica and Robusta, in which Arabica still dominates with about 85% of the remaining production being Robusta. In Brazil, Arabica cultivation is concentrated in the national coffee regional cluster and is led by Rio. Meanwhile, Robusta coffee is mainly grown in smaller states like Espirito Santo. Therefore, with large areas of growing coffee and drying process, Brazil is the dominant country in providing natural coffee beans
Vietnam
Vietnam’s coffee history began with the French in 1857, up to now coffee cultivation has been entrenched in Vietnamese culture for more than a century. Boosted by support from the government, Vietnam’s coffee production has increased from a very low level in the early 1990s (at that time there was only 5900 hectares of coffee in the country). The whole country has grown to half a million hectares with an annual output of more than 25 million bags in 2010 and maintained continuously until now, making Vietnam the second-largest producer in the world.
- Two main types of coffee (Robusta and Arabica) are both put into production, While original Vietnam Robusta green coffee beans account for 92.9% of the total coffee growing area (and 97% of total production), Arabica varieties are only responsible for a few percent left. The total area covered by coffee farming is estimated at 600,000 ha, with the main coffee growing provinces located in the Central Highlands, including Dak Lak (190,000 ha), Lam Dong (162,000 ha), Dak Nong (135,000 ha), Gia Lai (82,000 ha) and Kon Tum (13,500 ha).
- The most common processing technique in Vietnam is still the natural drying method after harvest. In this method, the coffee is dried under sunlight or in a mechanical dryer. Currently, almost 80% of post-harvest processing is done by sunlight. However, coffee farmers, producers, and traders in the Central Highlands region are now increasingly using machines to dry coffee cherries. The drying time is about 12 to 16 hours per batch and the moisture content is reduced by 10%-12%. The main raw material used as fuel for the dryer is dried coffee husks or charcoal.
One of the leading companies that supply natural coffee beans
K-Agriculture Vietnam
Founded in 1996, through 25 years establishing and developing, K-Agriculture with an aim to bring Vietnamese agriculture to the world. Up to now, K-Agriculture has reached about 80 countries globally, providing customers with the best products, especially in natural coffee beans.
K-Agriculture
