Travels of a coffee bean, from the tree to the cup.
It all starts with the 'Coffee Tree'

The coffee bean begins its life as the bean seeds inside a bright red cherry. The coffee cherry grows on small trees(or shrubs) which are grown from sea level to about 6,500 feet. The Coffee tree is grown in the belt between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

The cherrie goes through different stages of maturity, green means it is not ripe but when it turns a darkish red it is then ready for picking/harvesting. Each tree only produces the equivalent of a half a kilogram of roasted beans per year, so you can imagine coffee plantations can cover wide areas and involve a lot of workers for processing it for export. This is what Fair Trade Coffee is all about, fair trade coffee gives the growers and workers a better deal. Few commodities require so much in terms of human effort and as a consiquence it is hard work and low pay due to the man power and time required.

Left: This evergreen tree is grown in the sub tropical regions around the world and produces the coffee cherry.

Processing The Cherries

The processing of the coffee cherrie must begin straight after being harvested to prevent the pulp from fermenting and deteriorating. The coffee beans can be prepared for roasting or export in one of two ways using either the natural or the washed method.

Through the "natural" method (the natural method is no more natural than the washed method it just adopted than name over time), ripe coffee cherries are allowed to dry naturally on the tree or on the ground before the beans are removed by hulling, hulling removes the husk and skin of the cherry using a machine that squezzes the cherries.

Through the washed method, the beans are immediately separated from the cherries using a pulping machine, they are then fermented, then dried on large patios or with modern equipment.

Above: This photo shows a mix of ripe and immature fruit, the green cherries are not ripe and the red ones are ready for picking.

Above: From the coffee cherry spills two beans. the object of universal intrest. This photo shows the husk which surrounds the beans.

The beans must be dried to about 10% of it's original moisture content, it can take upto 4 weeks to drie out.
The coffee is then exported and imported all over the world, that is when it arrives at Red Monkey Coffees roasting unit, where it is roasted and sent to you.