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The coffee plant produces a red or purple fruit, but people are less interested in that than they are in the actual coffee bean. Technically speaking the bean is the pit, similar to the pit found in a cherry or apricot, but with two half oval shapes facing each other. This pit, containing up to 2.5 percent caffeine, is a major export for several countries.
The coffee bean is cultivated and is green. The green bean is then put through a process of sorting, done by immersing the bean in water. Unripe and bad beans will float to the top, while the good beans will sink to he bottom.
Once the sorting has been done, the beans are washed and fermented. Pulp that is left on the beans is removed by letting them sit in a pool full of microbes for several days. The beans are then thoroughly rinsed with water to get rid of the microbes. This is how most coffee is processed.
The oldest and most traditional ways of processing coffee is the dry method. The beans, once harvested, are laid out in thin layers on tables to dry out in the sun. This takes significantly longer to do, up to two weeks. To prevent mildew, the beans need to be moved around a lot.
This dry processed coffee is in high demand, but because it is so much more labor intensive, only a few regions do it. Ethiopia produces the most, followed by Brazil and Yemen.
Once processed, green coffee beans can be stored for up to a year. If kept in a cool, clean and dry place, there is no reason for it to go bad before the year is up.
The coffee bean is then roasted. Almost all of the coffee that consumers across the world buy has already been roasted, though it is possible to buy green coffee and roast it themselves at home.
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