What are the ingredients of coffee beans?

Coffee beans are the main raw material for making coffee. They go through a series of processing and roasting processes to become the fragrant coffee we are familiar with. So, what are the materials used to make coffee beans? Let's take a look below.

First of all, the most important material for making coffee beans comes from the fruit on the coffee tree. This fruit is often called "coffee cherry" because of its bright red appearance. When it is ripe, farmers will pick these cherries and remove the pulp to get the two seeds inside, which is what we call "coffee beans". This process requires patience and skills, because only by selecting high-quality, moderately mature and undamaged cherries can high-quality coffee beans be produced.

Secondly, before obtaining intact, fresh beans for processing and roasting, the picked green beans need to be processed. One important step is to remove the outer skin and pulp, a process called "peeling and defruiting". There are usually two ways to achieve this step: dry method and wet method. The dry method is to dry the picked coffee cherries in the sun, wait for their outer layer to dry and crack, and then remove the outer layer through mechanical equipment; the wet method is to soak the coffee cherries in water, ferment them, and then remove the outer layer through mechanical equipment. Regardless of which method is used, the purpose is to obtain pure coffee beans.

Finally, the processed green beans need to be roasted to become the coffee beans we know. Roasting is a key step that not only affects the color, taste and aroma of the coffee beans, but also determines the final taste of the coffee. The temperature and time need to be controlled during roasting, and adjusted according to different types and flavor requirements. Generally speaking, lighter roasted coffee beans taste sour and light, while darker roasts produce a stronger bitterness and caramel aroma. Therefore, roasting is an important step in determining the final flavor of coffee beans.