Cultivation.

Coffee plants flowers are small, white and fragrant, clustered in groups in the leaves' axils. The fruits resemble cherries in size and color and are formed by two grains of coffee wrapped in a membrane.

Picking.

The picking of coffee grains is a long and meticulous process. First the cherries must ripe until they reach a reddish color. The pickers check the coffee trees and gather the ripe cherries one by one. Thus the process lengthens this way until all fruits mature completely.

Treatment.

When the picking has been carried out in a selective way, that is to say, only the ripe cherries, the grains undergo a laborious water-based cleaning method. During this process the pulp is separated and the grains are selected. Later on, they are spread out for drying and the sieve of the grains of superior quality is carried out. There is also the so-called dry method, although the humid method is the one that achieves the most appreciated coffee beans.

Roasting.

The grains undergo a roasting process during which they lose weight and the aroma and typical taste of coffee are developed. Each grain kind has optimum roasting time and process whose variations alter the final flavor.

We can distinguish three different roasting processes:

• Slight: of delicate flavor.
• Half: of strong flavor.
• Complete: it eliminates acidity and it gives it a bitter flavor.

The roasting of the different grains must, necessarily, be done separately, following a differentiated roasting process, because as we have already said, each coffee grain has its optimum roasting point .