Content
1. What are defective coffee beans?
2. Reason for defective coffee beans
3. Solutions for defective coffee beans
1. What are defective coffee beans?
The coffee beans that are blotchy, bleach, does not have color, broken beans, sour beans, etc are defect coffee beans and are not selected as a fine quality Coffee but; they can have a place in the market at a lower price. The reason that these beans are may not be fine quality beans are as follows:
- Moisture and drying problem
- Due to oxidization
- Contact with soil, metal, dirty water and many more
The coffee beans that are not good quality effects the appearance and they show up in the roasting process as soft, pale and molted beans which will definitely affect your good coffee time.
According to the study of Fe N. Dimero, Marvin V. Vicedo, Christina B. Hernan and Jeanette A. Saenz, sorting of coffee beans:
- Can significantly improve the green bean quality as well as the cup quality of the green coffee.
- Complete removal of all types of defects increased the cup quality of coffee from “good” to “very good.”
What can Coffee beans can be categorized as defected?
2. Reason for defective coffee beans
The following are the reason that Coffee beans are categorized as defected one:
- Dried coffee cheery
- Black beans, Sour beans
- Stinker beans
- Insect damaged beans
- Broken Beans
- Shells and stick and Stones
3. Solutions for defective coffee beans
These problems could be solved, the most effective way is to sort either by two ways: manual sorting or electronic sorting.
3.1. Manual sorting
The process of removing defected coffee beans by a person is manual sorting. In manual sorting, the person has to sit in one place sorting them one by one with their hand.
Photo by Max Panamá
3.2. Electronic sorting
The process of removing defected coffee beans by machine is electronic sorting. In electronic sorting, the machine does the all the hard work. These machines have the laser to detect.
Following table shows difference between Manual Sorting and Machine Sorting with respect to efficiency, reliability, cost and time:
Base | Manual Sorting | Machine Sorting |
---|---|---|
Efficiency | Good or Fair | Good |
Reliability | Good or Fair | Good |
Cost | Cheaper | Expensive |
Time | Time Consuming | Less Time Consuming |
TO BE CONTINUED