PRACTICING WHAT I HAVE LEARNED: COFFEE

The best way of training our writing skills is dedicating time to write a lot. This kind of training is very fruitful because people can learn and ensure their acquired knowledge in a easy way. Moreover, when you write you can work out your brain and flourish your imagination. writing is the best way to keep in our mind many things. Finally, The invitation today is not stopping writing even if your final results are not that you want, the matter is enjoy the practice of writing about whatever you want. 

COFFEE: FROM THE BEAN TO THE EXQUISITENESS

Coffee is one of the most common drinks in the entire world. People usually share good moments and conversations with a cup of coffee in their hands. Besides, many people have tasted it and even there are many addicts to this grain that was discovered in Africa and that nowadays it is produced mainly in tropical countries such as Colombia, Brazil or India. Coffee also has many ways of preparation: as a drink, cake, ice-creams even as yogurt. But few people do not know what the procedure of this product is and this essay is for showing the process, what the properties of coffee are and how it is sold. The process could be very hard but, at the end, it is worth.

Coffee takes its name because of the seed of the coffee tree, a tree that grows naturally in Ethiopian territory that belongs to the Rubiaceae family. The coffee has between four and six meters high. Besides, it has greenish hue, opposite leaves, its flowers are white and berry fruits are displayed in red. The seed of this tree, i.e. coffee, usually measures about one centimeter, being flat on one side and convex on the other, with a longitudinal groove. Its color is yellow-green. Coffee grows well on the islands of Java and Sumatra, and in Arabia, India, Africa, the Caribbean and Central and South America, but in South America, Arabian crops produce about two-thirds of all coffee consumed in the world, and is for that reason that Colombia becomes a major exporter because it produces a coffee of the highest quality, with the best texture and flavor.

As a product of nature, the coffee is loaded with many chemical structures as it contains around 1500 chemicals that are mostly antioxidant properties, and hundreds of these structures are produced by chemical transformations during the process roasting at temperatures exceeding 200 °C and a pressure of 25 bars. For example, nutrients that are shown in the following table are constituted in coffee as a beverage, and this gives a large contribution of energy and great health benefits. Finally we must say that the coffee as one of the most consumed products in the world, and it has become one of the most important products too, as it is second after oil.

Every product has a process and each process has a technique, the way how to improve the final product seeking quality and efficiency is the production. Since the first plantations, Colombian farmers want to develop the best strategies and methods to increase their harvesting  taking into account that this country is one of the most important exporters of this grain around the world. FEDERACION NACIONAL DE CAFETEROS, founded in 1927, has been developing technological and scientific programs to achieve the best results.

For producing a coffee of a high quality the cultivators need to consider some important aspects related directly with this practice such as ground, climate, geographic position and pest control, always considering the environmental and workers protection. The adequate conditions of weather and ground can produce coffee of an excellent class. In very hot places the coffee’s plants have a development cycle shorter and the cultivation endures less time different from cold places where the plants have a better growth and their production is longer, why reason the coffee have to be planted into a temperature between 18 and 22°C, neither much nor few rain. The sun is an energy fountain for the plant and is the most important natural element to elaborate its own food, the trees should be enough separated to avoid that the plants end competing for the light among them.

The ground must be prepared before planting by the coffee farmers and this should be rich in minerals such as Nitrogen, Phosphorous and potassium, its color has to be dark  because of this kind of ground has a lot of organic  matter.The optimum region to cultivate coffee can be found between 1250 and 1600 of altitude above sea level, helped by good weather conditions. Commonly the coffee tree is victim of plagues and diseases that can kill an entire cultivate quickly if it is not treating early in a correct way. Finally it is not easy to produce good quality of coffee in any place, this product has been associated during some centuries to the international market, for that reason at the present time science and technology based in many investigations are supporting all the coffee production activities to provide tools and knowledge helping many people from several zones of underdeveloped countries like Colombia to find in the production of coffee another way to work decently.

The coffee bean process requires a long process and it is as important as the cultivation. This phase is related with the following parts:

·         Removing the seeds of the coffee plant.

For cherry seeds there are two processes:

o   Dry Way: cherries are dried in the sun or in drying machines, and then coats are removed carefully until remain just the seeds.

o   Wet Way: the cherries are soaked to remove the coats. After washing the grains. It is best known as washed coffee.

·         Coffee drying and Classification

Once collected the coffee beans, the top gets dried exposed to sunlight or in drying machines. The coffee bean is freed from its pulp, the pulp is exposed to the sunlight for 2-3 days until dry its cover. This type of drying "natural" is proper to get the "coffee parchment paper". Then, the beans are classified to be sent to the roasters, to proceed to coffee roasting. Impurities and stones are removed and grouped by categories. The grain is now green and soft. Some productive countries sell green coffee, and then each country roasts and sells coffee in various types of coffee: roasted, ground, instant, decaffeinated. The process of coffee is too delicate and it needs many cares but the final product is worth.

As we have seen, the process is too large and it costs many resources, machinery, manpower and money. This process consists on a lot of steps: since collecting the grain, removing the seeds, drying the coffee, until toasting and packing the final product. Also, this project showed how it is sold and distributed in the merchandise and what the importance of coffee is. At the end, all the efforts done in the production are with the objective of giving to everyone one of the most delicious drinks ever: the coffee.