The method of coffee processing (Arabica Natural) takes these steps below.
- Enforcement of selective picking of only red ripe cherries, and extra sorting of the berries in order to have red ripe cherries.
- Subjected to floatation to remove the defective cherries which float and the heavy ones which sink are the ones taken as the goods ones.
NOTE: Processing of the Floaters and the heavy ones is done separate.
- Cherries are then spread dry on raised beds, cemented floor and or Turplains.
- Under good weather, cherries can dry for as long as 30 days up to the Moisture content of 13.0% before they can be hulled.
- From this method of processing, the result is Arabica natural is exported as Dry Uganda Arabica (DRUGAR).
Costs
Ironically, the cost of inputs for Arabica coffee is higher than that of Robusta coffee.
Robusta coffee requires less input costs because it can even grow on its own without much care on the other hand, it should be Arabica coffee to require much more input costs because Arabica coffee is quite expensive to maintain on a farm as compared to Robusta.
Post-harvest Handling Practices
The ripe coffee fruits (cherries) go through a number of operations aimed at extracting the beans from their covering of pulp, mucilage, parchment and film to improve their appearance. The resulting clean coffee can then be roasted and ground to obtain the coffee powder which is fit for human consumption. Coffee processing is the major post harvest process that involves wet processing and dry processing.
WET PROCESSING
Used mainly for Arabica coffee.
Wet processing involves three stages:
Wet processing is also done on Robusta coffee especially colonial
