After finding a buyer happy with both the quality and cost of the coffee, the exporter must then prepare the beans for shipping. Throughout the process, they’ll continually cup it to make sure that it still meets the desired standard.
The preparation process has many steps and runs as follows:
Drying: The coffee is washed through the mill and dried for anywhere between 25 and 30 hours, depending on the humidity. Separate mills are used for speciality coffee due to the different quantity of coffee that is being processed.
Cleaning: The beans are then cleaned to remove any remaining coffee cherry flesh.
Sorting: The coffee is sorted by the weight and colour of the beans.
Packaging and storage: The beans are bagged and stored in the right conditions ready for shipping.
Coffee can devalue while being stored and shipped, creating additional risks for exporters. Credit: M. Fury