The Journey of a Bean: From Farm to Your Cup in Tyler, Tx
When it comes to getting the best coffee in Tyler, TX, it’s all about the process. Every coffee shop does it differently, but one thing that often sets a place apart is where they source their coffee beans. The process of growing beans, harvesting them, and turning them into the delicious coffee you enjoy every morning is extensive.
In this guide, we’ll share a closer look at the journey of a bean. Check out how a bean starts on the farm and eventually transforms into delight in your coffee cup.
The first step to a coffee bean is growing them on the farm. Many countries, like Colombia, Brazil, Honduras, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nicaragua, are well-known for supplying the world with coffee. There are other locations as well, but these are some of the top producers in the world.
At the farm, a tiny little seed is planted and then given lots of sun and care to raise up a plant loaded with coffee beans. These beans start out green. The brown color you see doesn’t come until later.
Coffee farms are constantly rotating crops to raise beans for the consumers. From planting time to maturity, it can take around 4 years for coffee beans to be harvested, so farms will have beans in multiple stages at one time.
At the time of harvest, the bean resembles a small red cherry. That’s the sign it’s time to harvest.
That’s not the last step, though. There is plenty that happens after the harvesting before beans are packaged and exported to coffee shops like ours. Inside that little red cherry lies a small green coffee bean. That’s the coffee bean we all know and love. After harvest, the red flesh is removed for traditional washed coffee. However, there are some processes, including natural or honey processes, that use a different approach.
Typically, the coffee beans are left in the sun to dry those husks and expose the beans. Then, the beans are dried and milled to clear the exterior completely and prepare the beans to be sent off.
The beans are not roasted at the farms. This happens after they are exported.
Those exported beans go to providers who will handle the roasting process and packaging for sales. In traditional commodity coffee, the roasting process happens in large factories or plants where the beans are then mass-packaged and sent to stores or coffee shops.
Craft coffee suppliers and producers do it differently and handle the roasting process themselves. You will find that many of the craft coffee shops you visit use a local supplier for the roasting process or will have their own place for local roasting. At Foundry Coffee House, we partner with Porch Culture Coffee Roasters, a local company that roasts on property.
Once the beans are roasted and ready, they are sent out across the globe to be turned into a delightful cup of coffee.
It takes a lot of hard work and time for a bean to be grown, prepared, roasted, and then made into the best coffee in Tyler, TX. Plenty happens before we ever receive the beans to create your drink.
That little seed goes through quite the journey to bring you the coffee you love. Come see us today to enjoy some of the best coffee around!