What Key Factors Should Be Considered When Developing a Roasting Plan?

I have always believed that in order to maximize the flavor potential of coffee, you must understand where the green coffee beans come from, what variety they belong to, what their characteristics are, and which coffee processing method is used.

Only by fully understanding and mastering these factors can you better develop a roasting plan and achieve the final roasting goal.

Arabica coffee accounts for 70–75% of global coffee production. This coffee variety originally came from the southwestern highland regions of Ethiopia and is also known as “Arabica coffee shrub,” “high-altitude coffee,” or “Arabica coffee.”

Arabica is the earliest coffee species cultivated and grown by humans. Historical records related to coffee cultivation and coffee plants can be traced back to Mocha, Yemen, in the mid-15th century.

Robusta coffee originates from the central and western regions of the Sahara. It is easy to cultivate and has a higher yield than Arabica coffee.

Its caffeine content is almost twice that of Arabica, with higher antioxidant levels and stronger disease resistance.

After roasting, Robusta coffee has a stronger flavor, heavier body, and a distinctive earthy taste.

At the same time, due to its higher pyrazine content, it also has a more pronounced bitterness.

Green Coffee Processing Includes the Following Steps

Harvesting:

To produce high-quality green coffee beans, coffee cherries must be carefully selected during harvesting.

The harvesting method is very important.

It can be manually selected by hand or mechanically harvested without distinction.

At this stage, another important factor must also be considered: the sugar content of the coffee cherries.

This is measured using Brix (°Bx).

Brix is used to measure the sugar content in an aqueous solution.

1°Bx means that 1 gram of sugar is contained in 100 grams of solution.

The total concentration of sugar in a solution can be expressed as a percentage.

For coffee cherries, the ideal Brix level should be above 20°Bx.

Harvesting should also be avoided after rainfall because the Brix value decreases as the water content inside the fruit increases.

In addition, the color of the cherries should be checked according to the coffee variety to ensure that they contain the highest possible sugar content.

Since each coffee variety has different characteristics, it is difficult to determine that cherries of different varieties will reach their maximum sugar content simply by reaching the same color level.