Vietnamese Green Coffee Beans
1. Vietnamese Green Coffee Beans
Green coffee beans - also known as raw coffee, are fresh coffee beans with natural green color, not yet roasted. After harvesting and processing fresh coffee, we will get green coffee beans. With a humidity of only 12-13%, green coffee beans can be stored for a long time without worrying about mold or damage.
Basically, there are two types of green coffee: Arabica and Robusta - Arabica coffee, also known as tea coffee in Vietnam, is grown in places with an altitude of 1,000m or higher, with cool temperatures and a large difference in day and night temperatures. Arabica usually has four common strains: Caturra, Bourbon, Mocha, Typica and Catimor. Unlike Arabica, Robusta coffee - also known as Voi coffee in Vietnam, is often grown at lower altitudes below 1,000 meters, is a type of coffee that loves the sun with higher temperatures and has high disease resistance, this type is grown a lot in Vietnam. In addition, there is also Excelsa coffee (also known as Jackfruit coffee) which is also grown sporadically in Vietnam.
2. Coffee classification
a/ Classified by bean size
Coffee beans are classified by size from large to small, designated in Africa by letters from AA, A, B, C to PB (Peaberry) corresponding to sizes 13 - 20. Large beans usually give a more complex and rich flavor, while small seeds give a light and delicate flavor. Specifically, green coffee beans will have the following common sizes:
+ Size 16-18: The largest beans, with a rich flavor because of the reasonable ratio of bean and skin, it’s often used for making roasted coffee beans.
+ Size 14-15: Medium beans, low ratio of beans, many shells, when roasted and ground, it will affect the flavor of the coffee, so it is usually used for blended coffee, helping to reduce product costs.
+ Size 13: Small beans, it’s often used to make instant coffee or cheap coffees.
b/ Classified by processing method, green coffee beans are divided into 3 types:
Wet processing: With this method, the coffee cherries are immediately peeled after harvest, the beans are washed to completely remove the flesh before drying. Through this meticulous process, the finished coffee beans will achieve high quality, uniformity, pure flavor and high commercial value.
Traditional natural drying: In this method, the coffee cherries are dried directly under the sun without being peeled or washed. The purpose of this method is to keep the flesh of the coffee bean intact, creating a natural and rich flavor. However, green coffee beans that are naturally dried can have inconsistent quality due to their dependence on weather conditions.
Honey processing: This is a method of processing green coffee beans that combines modern and traditional methods. After harvesting, the coffee cherries are peeled by machine but still retain some of the fruit flesh on the beans. Depending on the quality and flavor goals, the amount of remaining flesh and the drying process will be flexibly adjusted. Honey processed coffee beans will have a characteristic dark yellow color of honey, and a slightly sweeter flavor.
3. Green coffee processing process
Before becoming delicious cups of coffee, green coffee beans must go through the following standard process:
Step 1 - Selective Harvesting
This step is done manually by farmers. They will select ripe coffee cherries with good quality in terms of bean-to-skin ratio to preserve the flavor of the final product.
Step 2 - Pre-processing
After harvesting in sufficient quantity, green coffee beans are carefully processed to develop their own flavor. With the honey processing method, coffee beans are washed after harvesting and begin the natural fermentation process. The pre-processed coffee beans will be completely dried in the sun before being peeled to have a rich and strong flavor.
Step 3 - Humidity control
Green coffee beans after processing will be carefully dried or sun-dried until reaching a humidity of about 12.5%. This is a quality assurance mark for green coffee beans, helping to preserve coffee beans always fresh and avoid mold.
Step 4 - Screening and packaging
The coffee beans will be carefully screened to classify the coffee beans by size and remove unwanted impurities. After going through the screening process, the qualified coffee beans will be carefully packaged, ready for roasting or other processing methods.4. How to preserve green coffee beans
There are two common methods of preserving green coffee beans, each with its own requirements to ensure the quality of the coffee beans.
The method of preserving by bagging (jute bags, sacks) is the traditional method chosen by many people. However, you need to pay special attention to the following factors:
- - Must ensure that the moisture content of green coffee is below 12.5% before putting it in the bag to avoid mold growth.
- - The cleaner the coffee, the higher the quality. For type I and II coffee, the impurity rate must be below 0.5%.
- - The warehouse must be well insulated to stabilize the temperature, humidity must be controlled to prevent coffee from absorbing moisture.
- - The warehouse must be disinfected and cleaned to eliminate pathogens before putting coffee in the warehouse.
- - Do not place coffee bags directly on the ground or against the wall, at least 0.5m from the wall and at least 0.3m from the ground to avoid mold.
- - It is necessary to change the order of the bags every 3 weeks to avoid compacting the coffee beans, which reduces coffee quality.
In addition to the traditional method of preservation in bags, green coffee beans are also stored in modern silos. Coffee will be stored in specialized silos, usually made of aluminum, concrete or wood, to completely isolate it from the outside environment. This method brings many outstanding benefits such as saving packaging costs, extending storage time, optimizing storage space and especially avoiding coffee compaction.
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