WELCOME

Production Technology of Coffee

• Botanical Name : Coffee arabica, Coffee
robusta
Family : Rubiaceae
• Coffee of commerce consists
of seeds of coffee which
when roasted, ground and
soaked in hot water
yields a fragrant
stimulating infusion used for preparing the
beverage called Coffee.
Introduction
 Derived from Arabic word ‘quahweh’ meaning
wine
 Later transformed to word coffee.
 The genus coffee is native to tropical Africa
(specifically having its origin in Ethiopia and
Sudan) and Madagascar the Comoros, Mauritius.
 Turkish – kahweh, French – café, Italian – kaffee,
dutch – koffie
 In Nepal around 1960 Mr. Hira Giri brought seeds
of coffee from Burma in Aapchaur, Gulmi.
 Origin and distribution

• Mainly grown in the countries like

Brazil, Central Venezuala, Colombia,
Central America, West Kenya, East Africa,
Java, Sumatra, India etc.
• Robusta originated in Africa
• Arabica originated in highlands of Ethiopia
 Uses, Area and Production of Coffee
Uses of Coffee:
1. Used as beverage and helps the people
suffering from malformation.
2. Taking coffee half to one cup per day over
comes Kwashiorkar disease caused by protein
deficiency in 20 days.
3. Counter effects the skin disease 'Pellagra.
Around 70 countries produce coffee, with the
overwhelming majority of the supply coming from
the developing countries of Brazil, Vietnam,
Colombia, Indonesia and Ethiopia
 Varieties of Coffee
• Consist about 70 species but two are economically
important in Nepal.
• Arabic coffee (Coffee arabica )and Coffee Robusta(coffee
canephora)
• coffee Arabica accounts for 75-80 % of the world coffee
production, while coffee canephora accounts for about
20%.
1. Coffee Arabica:
It is one of the predominant varieties grown in the coffee
belts of the world. It prefer cool climate and high altitude. If
left unpruned grows to a height of 3-4 meters with branches
growing opposite to each other horizontally. Fruits are borne
in clusters in axils of one year old wood containing 15 to 20
berries per cluster.
The flavour is typical and characteristic is superior to other
varieties.
It is susceptible to leaf disease Hemeleia vastatrix (coffee
rust)
Coffee rust (Hemeleia vastratrix)
 Soil and Climate:
• Coffee arabica comes up well in high altitude from
800 to 1650 meters but C. robusta adopts well to
lower elevations. At high altitude the crop is often
late and susceptible to frost and high winds.
• Evenly distributed rainfall of 2250 mm is essential.
Heavy rainfall is not conducive as it encourages
rotting of leaves and plants are easily susceptible
to fungal diseases.
• The temperature range is 50 to 80°F(15-30)°C.
• It can also be grown at higher provided shade is
there. In Nepal, coffee is grown in hilly areas.
• There is a distinct dry period of about 90-100 days
or from the Dec.
• March-April which is best for harvesting and
processing and also for maturity of flower buds.
• The shallow soils with little organic matter to
uncultivated soils on steep mountain slopes or
almost flat lands are suitable for coffee.
• The ideal pH for coffee plant is 5.2 to 6.3
• Coffee arabica is grown on commercial scale
the soils are red loamy and deep.
 Propagation:
• Propagated both by seeds and cuttings.
• Seeds are collected during December.
• Seed should be heavy broad and boat shaped.
Pulp of the seed is removed by hand.
• The fruits are rubbed with ash to prevent sticking
of seeds and dried in shade.
• 4000 seeds are required for one ha.
• Seeds germinate within 4 to 5- weeks.
• Then the seedlings are uprooted and
transplanted in bags or in nursery bed at 25 cm
apart.
 Vegetative Propagation:
• Cuttings have to be selected from bushes of
outstanding performance and made to root in
the propagation chambers or in specially laid
out nursery beds.
• The cuttings root within 4-5 months.
• Rooting can be hastened, by employing growth
regulators like IBA or by dipping the cuttings in
cows urine.
 Planting:
• Pits of 45 to 60 cm3are dug during Jan.-Feb. at
a spacing of 2.5x2.5m or 3x3 m depending on
species to be planted.
• For C. arabica spacing of 2.5x2.5m is
recommended and for C. robusta spacing of
3x3m is adopted.
• Planting is done during June-July.
• In the initial stage staking is done for giving
support to the; seedlings.
 Provision of Shade:
• Coffee: prefers a subdued light i.e. partial
shade where, sunlight is intense..
• Shade, is necessary to maintain the soil
moisture and soil temperature. The severe
scorches the leaves and dries up the soil
resulting in the loss of soil moisture and
increase/ in soil temperatures which, adversely
affect the coffee bush.
 Advantages of Shade Trees:
1. They protect the bushes from Torrential rains.
2. Provides a heavy mulch for the bushes.
3. Prevent soil erosion.
4. Adds organic matter to enrich fertility status of
the soil.
5.Increase nitrogen content of the soil.
Though the shade trees shed leaves and add
humus to the soil, they compete for the nutrients
with coffee bushes.
 Manuring:
• The recommendations are based on the results
of experiments, the nutrient removal and the
productivity of coffee bushes under the
different conditions of soil., climate and culture.
The following fertilizer recommendations are
given as the minimum requirements.
 Fertilizer requirement of young plants
from 1st to 3rd year.
Fertilizers Kg/ha

Urea 17

Muriate of potash 19

Single super phosphate 22

• These fertilizers are applied in four split doses
each of 106 kg in Feb./March, May/June, Aug./
Sept, and Nov /Dec.
The following fertilizer doses are recommended
for mature plant of over three years age NPK 45:34:
45 Kg/ha.
• Foliar sprays of nutrients mixtures containing
nitrogen, Phospheric acid, Potash, Magnesium and
Zinc may be applied along with regular spray.
• Foliar sprays of nutrients during the break in
monsoon in July-Aug. have also been found to
arrest fruit drop in coffee considerably.
• In problem areas where roots are unable to absorb
sufficient nutrients from soil due to very low soil
temp, lack of moisture of a resitricted injured or
diseased root system, foliar feeding is very
effective.
 Training and Pruning:
• Arabica coffee is grown on single stem.
• The verticle growth of the plant is checked at
two stages with the object of having good lateral
spread and to secure a semispherical bearing
surface.
• This object is achieved by topping and centering.
• The young tree is allowed to grow until it
develops a crown wood on the main stem and
on the primary branches.
• When stem mature, it is topped at a height of
one meter. Timely topping of the young plant
helps to develop a good framework on the bush.
• Centering is done in the 2nd or 3rd year to
strengthen the stem and the primaries.
• Centering provides sufficient aeration to the
lower region of the plant.
• Criss - cross and overriding shoots and
unproductive wood are periodically removed,
unproductive wood between all primaries and
secondaries are also to be removed and only
healthy vigorous growth is alone encouraged.
• These operations are generally carried in June -
July and Sept. Oct.
 After Culture:
• Digging and forking open are usually done during
Sept. Nov. and again in Feb - March.
• This may be done annually but it is a costly item
and also detrimental to feeding roots of the bush.
Therefore, some farmer do digging once in 4 to 5
years weed control is done in intial years.
Chemical weedicides like Dalapon (for
controlling grasses and amino salt of 2, 4 - D (for
controlling broad leaved weed are used.
• Mulching and cultivation of green manuring
plants are done with the object of adding O.M. to
soil Mulching also controls and check the weed
growth.
 Cropping and Harvesting :
• Bearing start from 3rd year onwards. Good yield
starts from the 5th year onwards and continue to
yield up to 50 years.
a) Fly Picking: Small scale of picking of ripe berries
is made during Oct. and continued till February.
b) Main picking: Well formed and ripened berries
are harvested during December. Bulk of the yields
are obtained during this period.
C) Stripping: Picking of left berries irrespective of
ripening.
d) Collection of fruit dropped during harvesting.
Average Yield: Arabica 400 to 650 kg/ha
• Robusta 350 to 725 kg/ha.
 Processing of Coffee
a) Wet Processing
• By which plantation parchment or washed coffee is prepared,
• In the wet process, the fruit covering the seeds/beans is
removed before they are dried.
• Coffee processed by the wet method is called wet processed
or washed coffee.
• The wet method requires the use of specific equipment and
substantial quantities of water.
• The coffee cherries are sorted by immersion in water. Bad or
unripe fruit will float and the good ripe fruit will sink.
• The skin of the cherry and some of the pulp is removed by
pressing the fruit by machine in water through a screen.
• The bean will still have a significant amount of the pulp
clinging to it that needs to be removed.
• This is done either by the classic ferment-and-wash method
or a newer procedure variously called machine-assisted wet
processing, aquapulping or mechanical demucilaging:
b) Dry Method :
• By which cherry coffee is prepared.
• Wet method is generally favoured by the market than cherry
coffee as to avoid fermentation commencing before pulping.
• As all the fruits may not be of uniform size, they could be
stored into different size and pulped because of its very nature
of preparation and due to its longer contact with the
mulching and fruit skin: is usually .associated with
characteristic flavour known as "Fruity" flavour.
• Hence it is desirable to process the largest quantity possibly by
wet method, particularly so in the case of arabica.
• For the preparation of both parchment and cherry picking of
the right type of fruits (Red colour berries) forms an essential
part of the processing.
Sorting coffee in water
• In the ferment-and-wash method of wet
processing, the remainder of the pulp is
removed by breaking down
the cellulose by fermenting the beans
with microbes and then washing them with
large amounts of water.
• Fermentation can be done with extra water or,
in "Dry Fermentation", in the fruit's own juices
only.
• The fermentation process has to be carefully monitored to ensure
that the coffee doesn't acquire undesirable, sour flavors.
• For most coffees, mucilage removal through fermentation takes
between 24 and 36 hours, depending on the temperature,
thickness of the mucilage layer, and concentration of the
enzymes.
• The end of the fermentation is assessed by feel, as the
parchment surrounding the beans loses its slimy texture and
acquires a rougher "pebbly" feel.
• When the fermentation is complete, the coffee is thoroughly
washed with clean water in tanks or in special washing machines.
• After the pulp has been removed what is left is the bean
surrounded by two additional layers, the silver skin and the
parchment.
• The beans must be dried to a water content of about 10% before
they are stable.
• Coffee beans can be dried in the sun or by machine but in most
cases it is dried in the sun to 12-13% moisture and brought down
to 10% by machine.
• Drying entirely by machine is normally only done where space is
at a premium or the humidity is too high for the beans to dry
before mildewing.
Coffee drying in the sun.
• When dried in the sun coffee is most often
spread out in rows on large patios where it
needs to be raked every six hours to promote
even drying and prevent the growth of mildew.
Some coffee is dried on large raised tables
where the coffee is turned by hand.
• Drying coffee this way has the advantage of
allowing air to circulate better around the beans
promoting more even drying but increases cost
and labor significantly.
• After the drying process (in the sun or through
machines), the parchment skin is thoroughly dry
and crumbly, and easily removed in the hulling
process.
 Hulling
• The first step in dry milling is the removal of
what is left of the fruit from the bean, whether it
is the crumbly parchment skin of wet-
processed coffee, the parchment skin and dried
mucilage of semi-dry-processed coffee, or the
entire dry, leathery fruit covering of the dry-
processed coffee.
• Hulling is done with the help of machines,
which can range from simple millstones to
sophisticated machines that gently crack at the
coffee.
 Polishing
• This is an optional process in which any silver
skin that remains on the beans after hulling is
removed in a polishing machine.
• This is done to improve the appearance of
green coffee beans and eliminate a by product
of roasting called chaff.
• It is described by some to be detrimental to the
taste by raising the temperature of the bean
through friction which changes the chemical
makeup of the bean.
 Cleaning and sorting
• Most fine coffee goes through a battery of machines
that sort the coffee by density of bean and by bean
size, all the while removing sticks, rocks, nails, and
miscellaneous debris that may have become mixed
with the coffee during drying.
• First machines blow the beans into the air; those
that fall into bins closest to the air source are
heaviest and biggest; the lightest (and likely defective)
beans plus chaff are blown in the farthest bin.
• Other machines shake the beans through a series of
sieves, sorting them by size.
• Finally, a machine called a gravity separator shakes
the sized beans on a tilted table, so that the heaviest,
densest and best vibrate to one side of the pulsating
table, and the lightest to the other
• Grading is the process of categorizing coffee
beans on the basis of various criteria such as size
of the bean, where and at what altitude it was
grown, how it was prepared and picked, and how
good it tastes, or its cup quality.
• Coffees also may be graded by the number of
imperfections (defective and broken beans,
pebbles, sticks, etc.) per sample.

• For the finest coffees, origin of the beans (farm or

estate, region, cooperative) is especially important.
• Growers of premium estate or cooperative coffees
may impose a level of quality control that goes well
beyond conventionally defined grading criteria,
because they want their coffee to command the
higher price that goes with recognition and
consistent quality
 Decaffeination
• Decaffeination is the process of
extracting caffeine from green coffee
beans prior to roasting.
• Another commonly used method is
solvent extraction, typically
using oil (extracted from roasted coffee)
or ethyl acetate as a solvent.
 Roasting
• Although not considered part of the processing
pipeline proper, nearly all coffee sold to
consumers throughout the world is sold
as roasted coffee in general one of four
degrees of roasting: light, medium, medium-
dark, and dark.
• Consumers can also elect to buy unroasted
coffee to be roasted at home.
Preparation of Parchment Coffee/Washed
Coffee:
1) Pulping:
• After harvesting the desired type of fruits they should
be pulped (removal of outer skin) on the same day so
as to avoid fermentation commencing before pulping.
• As all the fruits may not be of uniform size,, they could
be stored into different size and pulped separately.
2) Demucilaging and Washing:
• The mucilage on the parchment skin is. removed by
(a) Natural fermentation,
(b) Treatment with alkali and
(c) Frictional removal in machine
a) Natural Fermentation:
• It is a critical stage in the processing.
• Fermentation should be wholly alcoholic and not acetic.
• The fermenting mass should not be allowed to dry up
and may be turned over once or twice.
• It may be kept covered the mucilage break down in the
process of fermentation in case of Arabica it is
complete in" about 36 to 48 hours, while in Robusta
fermentation is not complete even after 72 hours.
• The beans feel rough and gritty when squeezed by
hands similar to squeezing pebbles.
• After mucilage break down is complete, the parchment
is washed with clean water.
• 3-4 changes of water is used.
• Once used water, should never be allowed to come in
contact with parchment in the process of washing.
• b) Treatment with Alkali
• The pulped beans are drained of excess water
and spread out in the floor uniformly.
• 10% solution of caustic soda (sodium hydroxie)
is evenly applied into furrows using a rose can.
So as to make the alkali come into contact and
trampled by feet for about half hour, Time for
removal of mucilage by this method is half hour
in case of Arabica and 1/2 to 1hour in robusta.
3) Drying:
• Drainage off as much as possible excess water
facilities and shortens dry in time.
• Sun drying may taken 7 to 10 days under bright
weather conditions.
• Drying is done when sample record the some
weight for 2 days consecutively.
• The dried beans are stored in gunny bags.
4) Before roasting of beans the Peeling i.e. outer
coat is removed.
5) Grading according to different size is done.
B) Preparation of Cherry:
• Riped fruits after harvested should be spread
evenly to a thickness of 8 cm on clean drying
ground or tiled or concrete floors.
• Coffee should be stirred and ridged at least
once every hour.
• About 12 to 15 days until bright weather
conditions are required for complete drying.
• After drying cherry may be stored in gunny bag.
 Pests and Diseases of Coffee
1. Coffee White stem Borer:
2. Shoot hole borrer
3. Green scale:
• Treatment with malathion.
4. Green Bug:
Major pest problems in coffee
 Diseases:
i)Pink disease.
ii)Damping off.
iii) Leaf spot
iv) Leaf rust - Hemileia vastrairix
• First recorded in 1870. The loss varied from 50 to 60%
Symptoms :
• Leaves are affected, but young branches and fruits are also
sometimes affected. Orange yellow spots on lower
surface of leaves and corresponding brown spots on the
upper surface.
Control:
• 1. Two sprays of 0.5%A B.M. before onset of monsoon and
after monsoon.
2. Use of resistant varieties.