Ever since receiving the 300 kg test batch of “our” direct trade coffee from Hansapur, Nepal, I have been wondering how to get rid of the parchment shells around the green coffee beans. That’s one of the skins around the coffee cherry’s kernel (“coffee bean”), see here for high-res images.
Because due to hilarious a misunderstanding with the coffee farmers from Hansapur and our team in Nepal, the coffee arrived as green beans in the parchment shell. (White skin is what, the silverskin? So blue skin is the parchment shell? Turns out, the other way around. Cross-agricultural communication is difficult!)
We made an initial attempt at this problem (and some mess) during a coffee hacking day at The Reef Brussels, Edgeryders’ co-working / co-living space. While that worked, a hairdryer was not the most efficient tool for the problem …
Which brings us to this video (and much more mess) of yesterday’s version of the process. Enjoy watching 
If anyone’s wondering, this is not the final version of the process, but a prototype used exclusively for personal / private purposes, with my very own personal 3 kg coffee I bought from Hansapur farmers However, if any small-scale coffee farmer is looking for a small-scale coffee hulling process with self-built / low-cost tools, it could be a useful start. For that case, here’s the first part of the process to remove the parchment shells, creating the green beans / shell mix we were winnowing above: a simple kitchen blender, at slow speed, if necessary with somewhat dulled metal blades.
