RED to GREEN to BROWN

‘Red to Green to Brown’ is the life cycle of a coffee bean. Coffee is the 2nd most traded commodity in the world and over 25 million coffee farmers globally depend on coffee for their livelihood. The majority of coffee in the world is produced in regions that fall in the “Bean Belt” (See the map below).

Coffee grows on bushy trees that produce a cherry-looking fruit.  Once these coffee cherries are ripe and ready for harvest, they turn bright RED.  When the ripe cherries are picked they are either sent to a local wash station (wet method or pulped natural method) or they are laid out in the sun to dry (dry method).   Either way, the objective is to get to what is on the inside of the coffee cherry…what we know as the coffee bean.  Coffee beans are actually the seeds of the coffee cherries.  Each coffee cherry contains 2 seeds (beans) and at this stage in the game they are GREEN.  After the green beans are dried through various methods and bagged into jute/burlap, they are then shipped out all over the world and freighted to roasters and distributors like us. Well Coffee roasts them, turning them various shades of BROWN.  And then you get to enjoy them. Red to Green to Brown gives you a glimpse into the bigger story of coffee.