- Cherry coffee selected must be in a good condition, devoid of stale, dried, immature or green berries and other extraneous matters.
- Cherry coffee should be pulpable when pressed between fingers; no more than 2% green or unripe fruit should be in cherry coffee delivered to the pulpery or depot.
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- Stale coffee (brown coloured cherry coffee) with foul smell and discoloured (brown coloured) seeds are not acceptable and should be rejected.
- Cherry coffee must not be stored in metal or plastic containers, plastic sheeting, fertilizer bags or closed containers because such storage will hasten fermentation of the coffee.
- Avoid storing cherry coffee under water since coffee breaks down rapidly in water.
- Cherry coffee may be stored on a cured concrete barbecue under shade or in a well-ventilated building with concrete or wooden floor.
- Coffee should be floated on the farms. Test floating should be done at depots or the pulpery to ascertain compliance.
- Test floating A random sample should be drawn from the set of bags or boxes of cherry coffee delivered i.e. a sample should be taken from as many bags chosen at random. If coffee is on a motor truck samples should be drawn from different areas of the load and from different levels.
- Test floating A random sample should be drawn from the set of bags or boxes of cherry coffee delivered i.e. a sample should be taken from as many bags chosen at random. If coffee is on a motor truck samples should be drawn from different areas of the load and from different levels.
- Coffee should be pulped within twenty-four (24) hours after reaping if the best results are to be obtained.
- Adequate water – For every /1.5 cubic feet of cherry coffee, 50 gallons of water should be available at the pulpery for pulping and washing of coffee.
- Machines should be adjusted in order to completely remove mucilage without causing any damage to the beans.
- All pulpery equipment and tanks should be kept very clean to prevent contamination of the coffee.
- A proper waste treatment facility should be put in place to:
- Separate solid waste from the liquid waste.
- Screen effluent
- Allow for the settling of suspended solids in the effluent.
- Anaerobically or aerobically treat effluent before final discharge.
Work Instructions for Assessing the Quality of Cherry Coffee Sampling for Dry, Stale or Green Berries
- Use a 7 oz cup to pull a sample of berries from the heap or pile. (cup will hold approximately 100 berries)
- Count the number of dry stale or green berries in the cup.
- 1 berry ~ 1 %
- 2 berries ~ 2 %-------------------------- Tolerable Limit
- 3 berries ~ 3 %
- 4 berries ~ 4 %
- Reject coffee with greater levels of unacceptable berries
Sampling for Level of Floats
- Get a sample box dimensions 13 cm x 13 cm x 10 cm. This is about 4 % of the capacity of a field box
- Select two (2) boxes of cherry coffee from the heap and pour it into the float tank.
- Check the level of floats by measuring the floating berries using the sample box.
- Each sample box full is equivalent to 2 % of the two (2) field boxes
- Reject cherry coffee with a larger volume of floats greater than the one (1) sample box.
NB The field box’s dimension is 14 inches x 19 inches x 9.75 inches