When we think of coffee the first image that pops into your mind is the roasted beans. As a coffee producer I tend to see coffee as a cherry. The original form of robusta coffee comes through irrigating the plants to give rise to flowers, which undergo cross pollination to give rise to two beans within a cherry.

The processing of robusta gives rise to unique flavours within the brewed coffee. The harvest season starts with skilled coffee labourers picking the red juicy cherries. The redness indicates full maturity, this is when the cherry has high sugar content that helps the fruit gets its rich flavours. 🍫🍿

Note: These processing techniques and flavour profiles are based on Fine robusta production that takes place at St. Margaret Estate.

Natural Process

Brix meter

Brix Reading

The cherries are selectively picked, the sugar content is measured and then the green, yellow, orange coloured cherries are sorted out. The low density coffees are floated. The higher density cherries weigh down in the barrel or syphon tank depending on the farms processing structure.

Cherries in the Fruit Tank

Fruit Tank

Syphon Tank

The farms with syphon tank have initial fruit tank, in which the cherries are dropped and the water carries them into the syphon which separates low and high density coffees and the high density yield is pushed into the pipe and collected for further processing. The low density coffees are seen floating above the syphon tank and being dragged out of the station and dumped into a basket that goes out to the curers as defective beans.

Sieving in Barrel

Farms that can’t afford this structure use barrels. Once the cherries are dropped in, the water is filled within the barrel, allowing the low density cherries to float up. The top layer is then sieved and discarded. The heavy cherries are carried out for further fermentation.

The cherries after fermentation had winey aroma 🍷 but the flavour that existed were of spices and tropical fruits. It was like having extreme juicy brews that could be compared to fruit sweetness. The flavour profile is bomb among all robustas lots that were produced. The sweet-o-meter for Robusta naturals are usually on a different level.

Honey Process

Cherries get pulped inside the pulper machine separating out the cascara (coffee skin) and leavings sticky mucilage (fruit juices) on the bean. After the ferment the beans are ready to be sun-dried and the fructose coating on the bean caramelises to give the honey colour.🍯

Pulper Machine

The high sugar content is exposed to the sun which allows the indigenous bacteria, yeasts and fungi which is already on the bean to further ferment and leave byproduct to alter the overall taste. The byproducts seep into the bean coat and caramelises the beans to make them Honey processed coffees.☀️

Honeys can be of various colours based on the amount of sugars that retain on the mucilage, drying time, caramelisation and slow drying. The most easiest one to achieve is yellow honey. Yellow honey requires less mucilage and less drying time. 25% of the mucilage can achieve a highly desirable Coffee that’s subtle and sweet. The drying time can be 4-6 days.

🍯 Yellow Honey, Red Honey, Black Honey and Washed coffee ✨

Red Honey has 50% of the mucilage and 7-9 days of drying time. The flavours are syrupy sweet and can also have notes of fruity sweetness. Our honeys had a caramel popcorn finish. The flavour was prominent in the brew and the roasted bean. We at the farm tend to bite the roasted bean to identify the lingering taste before we brew, to check if they match.

Mucilage Collection

Burgundy honey requires 80% of the mucilage and 10 days to caramelise and completely dry off. Slow drying is a very important step in making this kind of honey. The raking of the beans on the raised beds needs to be more frequent to evenly dry them and retain the moisture on either sides of the bean.

Black Honey is very similar to Burgundy but the mucilage retention should be 90%-100%. This can be achieved with the type of pulper the farm has. The sticky honey beans are hard to turn as they stick together and clump. Even drying is harder than any other honeys. But the caramelisation can be dragged on to 12 days by providing enough sun and shade during the day.

Washed Process

The machinery strips the fruit of its skin, washes it’s sticky sweet mucilage. Leaving aromas of cavendish over the bean. The beans begins to look white and fresh, which further is fermented to get aromas that have citrusy zesty sensation, syrupy maple, and FIG-ilicious freshness. The final brew had nutty taste with good acidity.

Raised beds keep the cherries clean and allows the air to circulate more easily.
Thus resulting in evenly dried and more consistent coffee.

Dried up lots are put in gunnies. Where the fruit keeps elevating its flavours and the moisture within the bean starts to slowly stabilise. Once the water activity simmers down the beans finish their sleep, they are transported to roasters who take the samples and experiment to showcase them to the customers. To get the best flavours out of the bean by roasting it in the right level of heat.

Loved the process? 👩🏻‍🌾 We have events during December at our farm that includes farm walk filled with chirpy natures music. Coffee tasting session with tempting beverages and a live view of the coffee process.

Coffee Event at St. Margaret Estate

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