Does the size of coffee matter? Part II
March 21, 2008
This is the second part of the article
about how we buy coffees based on the size of the bean. There is a common
idea that bigger is better which sometimes is true, but not always. I have
heard many times that green buyers request through their brokers bigger
coffees such as Supremo instead of Excelso, believing that the size alone
would make a difference in the cup profile.
One common mistake made by green coffee buyers is requesting a bigger presentation without noticing that lots of green coffee are usually broken down by size within the mill plant process by using industrial sieve shaker equipment. Any lot of green coffee usually comes from a blend of various farm’s parchment that end up having the same taste profile, and it’s quite hard to find any difference between an small coffee (for example a Peaberry) and a bigger one like Supremo. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that some coffees could have some noticeable but minor differences in taste based on their size.
On the other hand, if any coffee is harvested and sorted out by altitude the outcome would probably be much better. In other words, I believe that any coffee that is sorted out first by altitude and then by size would test much better than any coffee of the same size but harvested at low level. One example is the SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) that comes from high altitude and is denser and usually tastier than the coffee that comes from a lower altitude but is the same size.
As mention earlier the coffee is sort out by size within the mill and no further action is usually implemented to increase or decrease it size. So, to buy a coffee lot by size I would suggest you pay attention to your own requirements; answering how much you care about a smooth batch of roasted coffee and how important it is to sell bigger beans within your market.
Finally, I would like to introduce a table that lest us see how to differentiate the coffee based on the hole size of the sieve. I would like to add that 1 Inch is equal to 25.4 mm (milimeters).
--Andres Castro
One common mistake made by green coffee buyers is requesting a bigger presentation without noticing that lots of green coffee are usually broken down by size within the mill plant process by using industrial sieve shaker equipment. Any lot of green coffee usually comes from a blend of various farm’s parchment that end up having the same taste profile, and it’s quite hard to find any difference between an small coffee (for example a Peaberry) and a bigger one like Supremo. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that some coffees could have some noticeable but minor differences in taste based on their size.
On the other hand, if any coffee is harvested and sorted out by altitude the outcome would probably be much better. In other words, I believe that any coffee that is sorted out first by altitude and then by size would test much better than any coffee of the same size but harvested at low level. One example is the SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) that comes from high altitude and is denser and usually tastier than the coffee that comes from a lower altitude but is the same size.
As mention earlier the coffee is sort out by size within the mill and no further action is usually implemented to increase or decrease it size. So, to buy a coffee lot by size I would suggest you pay attention to your own requirements; answering how much you care about a smooth batch of roasted coffee and how important it is to sell bigger beans within your market.
Finally, I would like to introduce a table that lest us see how to differentiate the coffee based on the hole size of the sieve. I would like to add that 1 Inch is equal to 25.4 mm (milimeters).
--Andres Castro
