Hand made coffee from berry to cup...

by jackie
(san diego,ca)

QUESTION:

How many hands come in contact with the coffee from berry until it is served as a beverage?


ANSWER:

Quite a lot of hands!

First, the seed is planted and the growing plant is nurtured. When it grows coffee cherries, they are picked. (Not always by hand.)

These cherries are then taken to be cleaned. The fruit is separated from the coffee beans, which are the seeds. Each cherry contains two coffee beans, with their flat sides facing the centre. (Some cherries have only one bean inside. These are used to make peaberry coffee.)

Once cleaned, the green coffee beans are packed into sacks. They are then warehoused and finally shipped abroad. At least, most are shipped abroad.

The sacks of green beans are then trucked to coffee roasters who roast batches of coffee and then pack either whole roasted beans or ground coffee into bags.

The bags are then shipped to retail distribution centers, and finally to your local supermarket or coffee shop.

As for how many hands actually touch the beans, it’s hard to say. But every coffee bean that sits in your kitchen has been on quite a journey!