Before specialty coffee is ready for your favorite mug, it must go through a highly-monitored process. The beans are often hand-picked, dried on a patio or elevated table, sorted for defects, taken to a cupping table to be graded, and then bagged for export.
In the bean’s description you’ll see one of these processing methods farmers use to produce the flavor profile they desire:
Washed – Combines complexity and cleanness, with great intensity. The coffee is run through a “depulper” which removes the outer fruit (cherry), the beans are soaked in water for a period and then washed in running water to remove the remaining residue.
Natural – Often has a “wild” or intensely complex flavor profile. Just as it sounds: the coffee is picked and dried as-is. Once dried, the cherry and skin around the seed (parchment) is removed mechanically prior to being bagged for export.
Honey - Allows the natural sugars of the bean to become more concentrated, and ultimately leads to a naturally sweeter cup profile. This process is aptly named “honey” because some of the sticky mucilage, the layer between the cherry and the parchment, is left on the bean while drying.
Wet-Hulled - The resulting cup from these beans are usually earthy, lower acid and full-bodied. A very interesting method commonly practiced in Indonesian growing areas. Depulping is done at the farm level, with mucilage left on the seed for a day or so, then it’s bagged and taken to a facility where the remaining parchment is removed and the beans are dried while being exposed to the elements.
The Sanders Bros. have a 100 year heritage of providing top-notch service. This heirloom family photo shows our great, great grandfather John Henry with his three sons Isaac, Herbert, and Nealy Sanders in front of the livery that housed their customers’ Model-T Fords.
Back then it was automobiles, but today the Sanders Bros. (and sister!) work to continue the legacy by sourcing and roasting the best coffee available. And so from our cup to yours we say, “Here’s to good coffee!”.
