Brew
A Perfect Cup at Home
This guide, created by Kopplin’s owner Andrew Kopplin, will help you master
the art of brewing the perfect cup. Read more
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Kopplin's rated one of America's Coolest Coffeehouses in Travel & Leisure for using local vendors and supporting local community. Read more
Symphony
in a Cup
Local high-end coffee brewers will make you rethink the contents of your mug. Read more
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After harvesting, the cherries must be processed to remove the fruit from the
seed (or bean). There are a number of ways in which this processing can occur
but they can be loosely grouped into three major categories: dry (or natural),
wet (or washed), and semi-washed (or pulped-natural).
The dry method is oldest processing method of coffee. In it, the beans a spread
out in a thin layer and left to dry in the sun. The key to quality dry method
processing is making sure all the beans dry equally and at the same rate and
that fermentation (when beans get excess moisture) does not occur. This is accomplished
through raking the bean and keeping them moving.
In contrast to drying the fruit there is the wet processing method. In this process,
the cherries are first pulped by machine, which means the skin is taken off.
After pulping, beans are left to sit with natural enzymes and bacteria which
actually eat the remaining fruit flesh. After fermentation the beans are washed
and dried.
Somewhere between wet and dry methods lies a hybrid called the semi-washed method.
It is only used with any significance in two regions of the world - Brazil and
the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In semi-washing the skin is pulped as
in the wet method, however instead of removing the sticky fruit through fermentation
the fruit is allowed to dry on the bean and then removed mechanically as in the
dry method.
