Why Select Defective Coffee Beans? What Flavors Do They Bring to Coffee?

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Coffee is an agricultural product, so naturally, raw coffee beans can have various defects. If you ask any producer or roaster, they will tell you the same thing. Fortunately, these defects can be identified visually, so as long as roasters have enough experience to notice beans with undesirable characteristics and remove them before roasting, it's not too difficult.

Multiple Center Cracks

As the name suggests, these beans have spoiled during processing due to over-fermentation. They look somewhat rotten and have a tobacco-like color. Just one or two of these problematic beans are enough to ruin an entire cup of coffee, as they have a strong rotten smell and unpleasant sour taste. Even beans that are only slightly over-fermented will already have a distinct onion flavor.

Diseased Beans

Common coffee tree diseases include coffee berry disease and leaf rust. The fruits produced by diseased coffee trees are mostly underdeveloped and have a deep color. If coffee cherries are not carefully picked during harvesting, or if machines are used for indiscriminate harvesting, diseased coffee berries and raw beans will mix with normal, healthy coffee, potentially spreading the disease.

The more you understand the various defects of raw beans, the better you'll know what steps to take to solve, prevent, and avoid them. Analyzing raw beans is one of many quality control measures in the specialty coffee industry. The better the collaboration between coffee producers and roasters, the lower the probability of these defects occurring. Additionally, understanding coffee growing regions and their environment, climate, and changes is also very important. Some regions may have just experienced a drought, while another production area might be affected by heavy rain. Some coffee-producing countries may be particularly vulnerable to coffee leaf rust or damage from coffee berry borers. The point is, as a roaster, the more current, sufficient, and rich information you have, the better you can make informed decisions when purchasing raw beans.

Usually at FrontStreet Coffee, we sort out defective beans at least three times: once before roasting, once after roasting, and once before brewing.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473