01 Planting The Seeds

We plant coffee on acres of Himalayan land under the shade of a nursery for the first six months to a year. In Nepal, the majority of coffee is preferred to be cultivated under shade. In fact, many of the farmers in Nepal are relinquishing the practice of demolishing forests and land in favor of producing shade-grown Arabica coffee. In the shade, cherries have more time to develop their distinct flavor. Shade coverage also slows down water evaporation from the soil, which reduces the usage of water on coffee farms. Shade-grown coffee is a more profitable and sustainable choice for coffee producers in Nepal than other cash crops. Our farmers give the seedlings plenty of water and protection from sunlight until they are permanently planted. Planting is mostly done during the rainy season to keep the soil moist while the roots become firmly established. After being transferred, it takes another two to four years before a coffee plant begins producing coffee.

03 Processing The Harvest

Our farmers start processing as soon as possible after the cheeries have been picked. This helps to minimize fruit spoilage. The processing of coffee cherries by highly-skilled and qualified farmers is an important stage that differentiates a magnificent final product from a marginal one. Coffee cherries can be processed either by wet-process or dry-process. In Nepal, the majority of farmers use wet process for their harvest within 24 hours of picking. There are two basic ways to process coffee, depending on location and available resources.

1. ❖ Dry method: It is the old method of processing coffee where freshly picked cherries are spread out in the sun to dry out. The cherries are stirred and raked throughout the day to keep them from decaying. Similarly, it is covered at night and during rainy weather to protect it from getting soaked.
2. ❖ Wet Method: In this method, the pulp is removed from the coffee cherry using a mechanical depulper to extract the coffee bean. Then the beans are separated by weight as they pass through water channels. After that, they are fermented in huge tanks for up to 48 hours with fresh snowmelt water.

The beans are moved to big water-filled tanks after being separated. For the purpose of removing the sugary mucilage layer, they are rest for 12 to 48 hours. Depending on the factors, the beans' climate, timing, and conditions should be increased or decreased. The beans are rinsed with water channels and then prepared for drying.

05 Resting The Beans

Before coffee beans are exported, they are processed in the following methods:

1. ❖ Hulling: During the hulling process, the parchment from the seed inside is separated. It also helps in removing the dried skin and the parchment from the seed.
2. ❖ Polished: This process is optional. Polishing is done to remove silver skin from the seed by machine. Some people believe that polished coffee is better than unpolished, but there is actually not much of a difference between the two.
3. ❖ Graded and sorted: Hand sorting coffee beans is the most crucial phase in quality control throughout the coffee production process. Beans are sized by passing them through a number of screens. They are pneumatically sorted by dividing heavy from light beans with an air jet. Damaged beans are removed or discarded if they aren't satisfactory. Examples of damaged beans include: insect damaged, unsatisfactory size or color. Thus, it is finally sorted and graded based on weight and size, and then it is packaged for shipment.