Grab some coffee

If you are a coffee drinker and ever wondered how that steaming coffee you grab every morning gets to your table, here's how it is processed. After the coffee beans are harvested, they are typically sun-dried on large patios made of asphalt or cement, where they are shifted at regular periods of time for several days to prevent mildew and fermentation while they dry. Then they are transferred to mechanical dryers. This method is widely used in Brazil. Additional processes include: sorting and grading; polishing, storaging and aging. Roasting is the last step, and it can be done either at the roasting companies or at home. I used to roast coffee for our family when I was a teenager, it was one of those chores my brother and I did not enjoy much, but I can tell you, I can distinguish a good coffee from a distance today.

The coffee farm: Chic Coffee (English) and Café Pessegueiro (Portuguese)


More pictures related to coffee on my previous posts:
1) Guesses anyone?
2) How would you like your coffee?

And that's my dad waving on the first picture...

How would you like your coffee?

Sugar, black, cream, cream and sugar, decaf, instant? I enjoyed so much reading your comments on my last post. Would you mind telling me your coffee preferences? Or if you dislike coffee, what is your favorite drink and why. Please take a seat and let's talk about the world's most popular beverage! In order to get your favorite brewed coffee so many things have to take place. First, coffee berries need to be picked, then they are defruited, dried, sorted, and also aged. My father worked all his life with coffee and so did my grandfather. During harvesting, I remember he would take me to see the manual picking. I loved the way people would pull the berries out of the trees. I asked my father a few questions, grabbed the camera with my husband and went out to get the pictures. Sorry there were too many and I couldn't figure out which ones to post here.

A few facts:
- Coffee beans are actually the seeds, and each coffee berry has two beans.
- A coffee plant can start producing as early as 2 years old and some of them last over 50 years
- You can hardly leave a house in Brazil without having a small cup of coffee (cafezinho) accompanied by cake, cookies or both.
- Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer.
- US is the largest coffee drinker, we're second.
- Over 50 countries grow coffee, and most of them are situated below the Equator
- The coffee you drink (latte, expresso, cafe au lait, or plain cup of coffee) might come from South America.
- Café au lait (coffee and milk) is part of the traditional Brazilian breakfast that also includes: baguettes, brioches, butter, tropical fruits and juices.

- Picture 1: taken at my parents' house it shows mom's favorite cup.
- Picture 2: roasted coffee beans
- Picture 3: a two-year old coffee tree already producing
- Picture 4: a 10 feet coffee tree
- Picture 5: coffee plantation
- Picture 6: ripe berries