Product Search
What’s a Peaberry?
A coffee peaberry is a genetic mutation: occasionally a single round seed will form instead of the normal two flat ones. This single bean is called a Peaberry. Ancora roasts a delicious Peaberry coffee from Tanzania.
Growing Specialty Coffee: It Takes Years.
Coffee farmers are patient souls. After all, in the time it takes to harvest the first crop, the farmer will watch 60 new moons wax and wane over his crop. Depending on the varietal, it takes up to five years for an individual coffee tree to begin yielding fruit. Once the tree matures, it will yield about one pound of green coffee per year.
Two species of Coffee Plants
Most of the world’s coffee is one of two species:
- Robusta: Coffea Canephora
- This accounts for approximately 25% of worldwide production, and is grown at altitudes between sea level and 3000 feet. It is a very hardy and disease-resistant plant and blossoms throughout the year. Typically, Robusta is harsh to the taste, thin in body and very pungent. It contains twice the caffeine of Arabica and a higher amount of soluble acids.
- Arabica: Coffea Arabica
- This species accounts for approximately 75% of worldwide production and is grown at elevations between 2000 and 6000 feet above sea level. The maturing process of the coffee cherry is slowed because of the cooler temperatures at this elevation, which produces a smaller more flavorful bean. Due to the great care that must be taken in all stages of growth, harvest, and processing of the Arabica, this bean is more expensive than the ones yielded by the Robusta plants. However, the greater care and expense are well worth it, since the results include a sweet, bright taste and wonderfully balanced aroma.
Harvesting the Fruit
Coffee is ready to harvest when its fruit (also called cherries) ripen and turn bright red. Coffee cherries can be picked either by hand or machine. The best type of harvesting is called selective or hand picking. Although laborious, the handpicking process is beneficial because it allows a relatively small crew of pickers to continuously pick the same trees only choosing the cherries that are ready for harvesting. When a machine does the harvesting it generally produces an inferior coffee because it’s not selective and will snatch even unripe fruit. Most specialty coffees are grown on steep terrain at high elevations making mechanized harvesting impossible.
Processing the Coffee
Once the cherries are picked the clock starts ticking: coffee must be processed within 12 hours of picking to prevent spoilage or unwanted fermentation. What is processing? It’s when the beans are removed from within the cherry. There are two processing methods: wet or dry. The wet process is used primarily in countries with a ready water supply. The dry (or ‘natural’) process is the most traditional and least expensive and is used in countries that do not have easy access to a large water supply. Once the beans are dried, they’re bagged and ready to be exported to roasters around the world.
What Origin Suits Your Palate?
Specialty coffees are produced in just three regions around the world. Each region has distinctive flavor characteristics.
African Coffee
Africa is coffee’s homeland -- the ancestral source for every specialty coffee since it’s believed the first coffee tree originated in Ethiopia. African coffees are colorful and diverse...from Kenya’s bold winyness to the musky, blueberry fruit of the Ethiopian Harrar.
New World Coffee
When you ask most Americans what coffee tastes like, they’ll describe coffee from this region. New World coffees have a 'taste of place' familiar to most Americans due to the heavy use of these coffees by early 20th century roasters. The coffees tend to have a bright acidity, clean flavor with a medium body and aroma. The beans are usually processed by the washed method and grown at high-altitudes.
Pacific Island Coffee
From the fabled Spice Islands, these coffees have delicate acidity, a medium-full to heavy body, rich aromas and deep flavors of earth and spice. Dutch colonists brought cultivars from Ethiopia to grow in the lush and more tropical environments found in this region.