Spilling the Beans on the Coffee Supply Chain. Coffee has been a popular drink for centuries, yet supply chain challenges fragmented production, commodity market instability, climate change continue to brew.
The native origin of coffee is thought to have been Ethiopia. The earliest substantiated evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree is from the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen. The first ever Arabica coffee bean plant was discovered in Ethiopia, which is where half of the world's coffee production comes from. Whether it's Arabica or Robusta, a coffee cherry generally looks the same but the vary in size.
The average Arabica plant is a large bush with dark-green oval leaves. The fruits, or cherries, …show more content…
The main exception is Brazil, where the relatively flat landscape and immense size of the coffee fields allow for machinery use. Coffee trees yield an average of 2 to 4 kilos of cherries and a good picker can harvest 45 to 90 kilos of coffee cherry per day; this will produce nine to 18 kilos of coffee beans. Coffee is harvested in one of two ways, Strip Picked is all the cherries are stripped off of the branch at one time, either by machine or by hand. Selectively Picked is only the ripe cherries are harvested and they are picked by hand. Pickers check the trees every 8 to 10 days and individually pick only the fully ripe cherries. This method is labour intensive and more costly. Selective picking is primarily used for the finer Arabica beans.
The supply chain process of coffee beans typically contains seven levels which are growing, harvesting, hulling, drying and packing, bulking, blending and roasting. The entire supply chain is further extended by several intermediaries, including global transporters as well as exporters and …show more content…
Cost for transportation from the field to the mill can be significant depending on the distance between the farm and the producing mill. Once the berries arrive at the mill they are processed, sorted, and graded by size, weight, and form. Processing of coffee is the method of converting the raw fruit of the coffee cherry into the green (dried) coffee beans. There are two processing methods: wet and dry process. The wet process requires a lot of effort, time, water, and therefore money. The coffee cherries are sorted by immersion in water; bad or unripe cherries float and the good ripe cherries sink. The ripe cherries are then machine cleaned by pressing the fruit in water through a screen. Lastly, the beans are dried either by the sun or by machines. The dry process involves sorting and cleaning cherries by hand and then placing them in the sun to dry naturally or using a machine to speed up the drying process. This is very common on small or medium plantations and in regions where temperatures are warmer and supplies of clean, fresh, water are not plentiful [2]. Inputs needed for the processing phase are the coffee cherries, water (for the wet processing method), and fuel oil for machine drying. The output of the processing phase are green (dried) coffee beans and solid waste including the outer hull, dust, and scraps from cleaning the cherries which are typically disposed [3]. The green beans
The native origin of coffee is thought to have been Ethiopia. The earliest substantiated evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree is from the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen. The first ever Arabica coffee bean plant was discovered in Ethiopia, which is where half of the world's coffee production comes from. Whether it's Arabica or Robusta, a coffee cherry generally looks the same but the vary in size.
The average Arabica plant is a large bush with dark-green oval leaves. The fruits, or cherries, …show more content…
The main exception is Brazil, where the relatively flat landscape and immense size of the coffee fields allow for machinery use. Coffee trees yield an average of 2 to 4 kilos of cherries and a good picker can harvest 45 to 90 kilos of coffee cherry per day; this will produce nine to 18 kilos of coffee beans. Coffee is harvested in one of two ways, Strip Picked is all the cherries are stripped off of the branch at one time, either by machine or by hand. Selectively Picked is only the ripe cherries are harvested and they are picked by hand. Pickers check the trees every 8 to 10 days and individually pick only the fully ripe cherries. This method is labour intensive and more costly. Selective picking is primarily used for the finer Arabica beans.
The supply chain process of coffee beans typically contains seven levels which are growing, harvesting, hulling, drying and packing, bulking, blending and roasting. The entire supply chain is further extended by several intermediaries, including global transporters as well as exporters and …show more content…
Cost for transportation from the field to the mill can be significant depending on the distance between the farm and the producing mill. Once the berries arrive at the mill they are processed, sorted, and graded by size, weight, and form. Processing of coffee is the method of converting the raw fruit of the coffee cherry into the green (dried) coffee beans. There are two processing methods: wet and dry process. The wet process requires a lot of effort, time, water, and therefore money. The coffee cherries are sorted by immersion in water; bad or unripe cherries float and the good ripe cherries sink. The ripe cherries are then machine cleaned by pressing the fruit in water through a screen. Lastly, the beans are dried either by the sun or by machines. The dry process involves sorting and cleaning cherries by hand and then placing them in the sun to dry naturally or using a machine to speed up the drying process. This is very common on small or medium plantations and in regions where temperatures are warmer and supplies of clean, fresh, water are not plentiful [2]. Inputs needed for the processing phase are the coffee cherries, water (for the wet processing method), and fuel oil for machine drying. The output of the processing phase are green (dried) coffee beans and solid waste including the outer hull, dust, and scraps from cleaning the cherries which are typically disposed [3]. The green beans