Processing Details
Coffees are grown and harvested in small-holder farmers’ backyards (known as ‘garden coffee’)
Cherries are taken to the washing station where small-holder lots are combined and hand sorted to remove under- and over-ripe cherries and select cherries between 18-22ºBrix
Cherries are dried on raised beds in full sun for 18-30 days to allow the beans to absorb the sweetness and fruitiness from the cherry pulp and skin
During drying cherries are regularly turned to ensure even drying and maintain clarity. On very hot days cherries are covered in plastic to control drying rate
Moisture content is reduced to 10-12%
Dried beans are then stored in the dried cherry pod for protection and to maximise sugar and fruit flavour absorption until milling and export preparation
Our local partners do further quality control and sorting during milling. As a minimum they do a triple-pass through a colour sorter and a triple-pass through hand-sorting tables to improve overall quality
Grade 2, grade 3 and grade 4 natural lots are categorised this way by the ECX.
These lots will have a higher defect count than Grade 1 lots, however, our partners do further sorting and removal of defects during milling to ensure Project Origin’s G2 and G3 and G4 lots are cleaner than the minimum standard