|
|
| COFFEE CLUES | Home | Order Beans! | And Teas! | Birds & Beans| Health & Harvesting |
|
HARVESTING
PESTICIDES HEALTH PROCESSING |
Coffee & Health:
Coffee is Sustenance. It provides nourishing food, protects those who work the land,
helps stabilize the Earth's climate and safeguards soil and water.
There are two types of coffee beans, Robusta and Arabica. The Robusta bean grows in the lowlands and lacks the fragrance and flavor of the Arabica bean. 
The bean we are concerned
with is the high grown Arabica bean, growing at altitudes between 2000 and 7000 feet in the mountains of the tropics called the Coffee Belt. The Arabica tree cannot tolerate extremely high or extremely low temperatures - that is why it grows best in well watered mountainous regions of the tropics.
|
|
ABOUT HARVESTING:
|
Provided a coffee seedling does not meet with climatic disturbances or disease, 3 to 5 years will pass before it begins to produce a crop. Once it has begun producing berries it will bear coffee for another 20 years. Generally, rainfall and temperature determine the number of annual harvests. Regions with two distinct wet seasons, such as Costa Rica usually have two flowerings, and two harvests per year. One Arabica tree will yield between 1 and 2 pounds of coffee beans per harvest. The coffee bean is really a seed that grows inside a berry. For the sweetest flavor the berries are picked when the fruit is red in color and fully ripe. Workers walk between the rows of trees with baskets or bags around their waists, leaving both hands free to pick the ripe berries. The workers must return to the trees more than once because all the cherries do not ripen at the same time. In this labor-intensive method, an experienced picker can harvest about 200 pounds of cherries daily. It is important to remember that there are no pesticides are synthetic fertilizers used on organic farms so the workers, including men, women and children are not at any health risk. |
|
WHY PESTICIDES DON'T WORK:
|
When we use toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, soil, the foundation of the food chain, is being robbed of its nutrients and minerals. Any time we help the micro life in the soil, the soil will be healthy. Micro life converts nitrogen from the air into a usable form of food for a plant. Farming with harmful chemicals kills soil floras. In addition, these harmful chemicals remain in the soil and drain into rivers and underground water reservoirs. Farmers and their families who live and work on these farms are paying the price with their health and their lives. On "technified farms" the increase in birth defects and cancer due to chemicals is astounding. When coffee growers were interviewed in Chiapas, Mexico, about why they had began returning to farming organically, they stated: "Our rivers are polluted our soils are tired, and our children are sick." |
|
GREEN COFFEE PROCESSING: |
Once the harvest concludes, processing must take place to remove the coffee beans inside each cherry. Two processing methods exist, the wet (washed) method, and the dry (unwashed)method. The processing method helps determine the ultimate flavor of the brewed coffee. For example, wet processed coffees (Costa Rican) tend to have a cleaner flavor, where as dry processed coffees (Sumatra) often exhibit a heavier body. In the wet method, a machine breaks away the cherries' outer skin, removing most of the pulp and exposing the parchment-covered beans.
To remove the sticky coating called mucilage, the beans are placed in large tanks of water to ferment for about 24 hours and then are thoroughly washed. At this point when the water is released, it flows into rivers. It is critical that there are no chemicals in the berries to run-off into the water, thus polluting streams and rivers on a massive scale. The clean beans are either dried in the sun for up to six weeks or dried by machine. In the last step, a hulling (milling) machine removes some of the parchment and silver skin to expose the green beans. They range in color from blue/green or gray/green and tend to command higher prices because of the additional labor and equipment involved in the processes. Some countries such as Sumatra and Ethiopia use the oldest and simplest method of processing - the dry method. In this method, the ripe cherries partially dry while on the tree and then are spread out in the sun on patios. Raked and turned serval times a day for another two or three weeks.  Finally, the dried beans are put through hulling machines to remove the dried pulp, parchment and silver skin. Dry processed coffees tend to be greenish to brownish in color. These coffees are often referred to as naturals. These coffees usually have more body and earthy overtones after roasting. |
|
COFFEE & HEALTH
Coffee is the flavorful, aromatic tonic of tradition; a gentle aid to thought, labor and conversation. |
The secret of coffee stimulation is caffeine, a complex chemical, which is only now being properly analyzed. (Until the 1970's not much was known) In the 1970's, Dr. J. Murdoch Ritchie wrote of caffeine in The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, "Caffeine produces a more rapid and clearer flow of thought, allaying drowsiness and fatigue. After taking caffeine, one is capable of a greater sustained intellectual effort and a more perfect association of ideas. There is also a keener appreciation of sensory stimuli and motor activity is increased."
Everyone has their own tolerance level. Some may even be allergic to caffeine or other properties of coffee. There are about 100 milligrams of caffeine in one cup of coffee. No ill effects have ever been recorded from drinking one cup of coffee. It has been proven that both the caffeine and chlorogenic acid found in coffee have cancer-preventing properties. Chlorogenic acid is also and anti-oxidant which slows down the aging processes. This might account for some longevity records among coffee lovers such as Voltaire who drank as many as 40 cups a day and lived to be 84. One or two cups of coffee affect the body in a variety of other ways. Heart rate increases,blood vessels dilate, and wastes move more easily through the body. There are other benefits of drinking coffee. Lindic acid, found in coffee oils, is believed to help blood clot and thrombosis. The vitamin niacin is also present in coffee. Lack of niacin affects the metabolism of the gastric and intestinal areas. One cup of coffee fulfills your daily requirement of niacin. An extensive study conducted recently in Italy indicated that coffee drinkers are less likely to suffer from bronchial asthma. Caffeine seems to help dilate the bronchial passages. Of course, too much caffeine can also produce "coffee nerves". Obviously, the answer is to drink coffee in moderation. |
Alta Organic Coffee, PO Box O, Davenport, California 95017
Phone: 800-866-5181 - Fax: 831-427-3372