Coffee

INTRODUCTION Coffee is produced by processing fruits of the genus coffea. They are many species of coffee but only two species dominate the worlds markets which are Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta [1]. Example of coffee beverage is mocca (by combination of coffee and chocolate). The coffee cherries consists of a few parts and will be degrade step by step by native microorganism until only the green bean left. The trans-section of the cherries can be referred as in Figure 1. The fermentation process of coffee beans is very important in order to get a good quality of product such as beverages in industry. Coffee is fermented to remove a layer of mucilage from the seed inner integument to which it adheres. Coffee fermentation is conducted for rather different reasons that contribute nutrition, taste, stability, and flavor all of these benefits on raw materials of coffee beans. A fermentation which is badly conducted can result in disastrous losses in quality. To produce coffee beans, there are three distinctly different coffee processing methods; wet process, dry process, and semi-dry process. In this report, we would focus on wet and dry processes.

Coffee husk or coffee hull (inner layer)

Mucilage layer or coffee pulp (outer layer)

Coffee bean

Figure 1: trans-section of coffee cherries

INDUSTRIAL PROCESS OF COFFEE Industrial process is done to isolate coffee beans by removing the outer and inner layer from the coffee cherries. This process required fermentation by native microbes for the degradation of pectin and other compounds in those layer and can be removed to get the beans. This section will give the details of both fermentation processes, wet and dry process. Normally, Arabica coffee used wet process while Robusta coffee by dry process. Figure 2 can be referred as the flow chart of both processes in producing coffee beans. There are obvious differences in both processes such as the procedures, the product quality and also the cost which will be discussed later.

Cherries picking

Dry process (Coffea arabica)

Wet process (Coffea robusta)

pulping
fermentation washing drying washing fermentation washing drying

Figure 2: the flow chart of industrial process of coffee

1) Cherries picking Dry process: The cherries are picked by hand or machine. Those cherries included various kinds of cherries such as green (immature) cherries, over mature, dark brown raisins and dry cherries. Wet process: The cherries are picked by hand and only mature cherries will be used in this process. After that, the cherries need to undergo sorting and cleaning of the cherries. These steps are usually necessary and should be done as soon as possible after harvesting. This operation is done by washing the cherries in tanks filled with flowing water. Screening process may also be used to improve the separation between the ripe and unripe, large and small cherries.

Dry process 2) Fermentation The cherries then spread on the ground for example earth, platform or concrete in layers. The thickness is between 2 10 cm and the cherries will be heaped at night and spread again on the next day. This process requires 10 25 days of sun drying. During this course, a natural fermentation occurs by native microbes. The microbe such as Aspergillus niger will be secreted an enzyme called pectinase which is used to break down the husk and the pulp. The substrate in this case is the pectinaceous sugars in the pulp and the husk. The fermentation of these sugars produces ethanol and acetic, lactic, butyric and other higher carboxylic acids [1]. 3) Washing After fermentation, a dry cherry left and free from the husk and the pulp. But there are still mixed with the by-products that are the ethanol and the acids. Therefore, a thorough washing with a large quantity of water is compulsory to ensure there is no contamination of the wanted beans which will cause a loss of quality due to the diffusion of the by-products into the beans. 4) Drying The previous step caused the moisture of the beans to be high and provide a good condition for the growth of microorganisms that spoiled the beans. The purpose for this step is to reduce the moisture percent in the beans from ~ 57% to ~ 12%. Therefore, the product will last longer and convenient for the transport for the production of coffee beverages and others.

Wet process

2) Pulping After sorting and cleaning, the pulp is removed from the cherry by a machine which squeezes the cherries between fixed and moving surfaces. The pulp of the fruit is separated from the beans before the drying stage. The flesh and the skin of the fruit are left on one side and the beans, enclosed in their mucilaginous parchment covering, on the other. The clearance between the surfaces is adjusted to avoid damage to the beans. The pulping operation should also be done as soon as possible after harvesting to avoid any deterioration of the fruit, which might affect the quality of the beans. The pulped beans go on to vibrating screens, which separate them from any un-pulped or imperfectly pulped cherries, as well as from any large pieces of pulp that might have passed through with them [3].

3) Washing The separated pulped beans then pass through water-washing channels where a further flotation separation takes place before they are sent to the next stage. Because the pulping is done by mechanical means it normally leaves some residual flesh as well as the sticky mucilage adhering to the parchment surrounding the beans. This has to be completely removed to avoid contamination of the coffee beans by products resulting from the degradation of the mucilage [3]. 4)Fermentation The newly pulped beans are placed in large fermentation tanks in which the mucilage is broken down by natural enzymes and microbiology until it is dispersible, when it can be washed away. The fermentation must be concluded as soon as possible after sufficient mucilage degradation has been accomplished. Unless the fermentation is carefully monitored, the coffee can acquire undesirable sour flavors. For most coffees mucilage removal takes between 24 and 48 hours. The most important of these conditions is depending on the temperature, thickness of the mucilage layer and concentration of the enzymes and microbiology. The end of the fermentation is assessed by feel, as the parchment surrounding the beans loses its slimy texture and acquires a rougher pebbly feel. This is ascertained by rubbing the parchment between your fingers to note whether the grittiness of the parchment surface can yet be felt. 5)Washing The mucilage which covered on pulped bean is a kind of pectin needed to proper degradation to sugar which is contributed a good sweet taste and caramel flavor during toasting coffee bean. Usually it is over fermented to continue degrading sugar to alcoholic and acidic compounds which lead to coffee beans not only lost sweet taste also contaminated with acidic flavors and odors. After fermentation, they are required thoroughly washed with large amount clean water in tanks with special washing machines. The coffee bean is releasing part of component or nutrition during washing with strong water flow. 6)Drying The wet parchment coffee bean at this stage consists of approximately 57% moisture. It is needed to reduce the moisture as soon as possible to an optimum 12.5% the parchment coffee either in the sun, in a mechanical dryer by both combinations. The sun-drying is done on extensive flat concrete or brick areas, known as patios, or on tables made of fine-mesh wire

netting. The beans are laid out in a layer of 2 to 10 cm, and turned frequently to ensure even drying. Sun-drying should take from 8 to 10 days, depending upon ambient temperature and humidity. Coffee dries more quickly if raised on tables because of the upward draught of warm air. The use of hot-air drying machines becomes necessary to speed up the process in large plantations where, at the peak of the harvesting period, there might be much more coffee than can be effectively dried on the terraces. However, the process must be carefully controlled to achieve satisfactory and economical drying without any damage to quality.

The wet process produced a better quality of green beans rather than by dry process. The method is also is more expensive than dry method due to the consumption of large quantity of water approximately 18 kg of water for 1 kg of bean [3]. The duration for the production of beans from the cherries is much faster than dry method.

APPLICATION OF COFFEE & ITS BY-PRODUCTS The fermented coffee beans are ready for the next stage that is beverage production. But in this study, we want to share the application of the residue of the fermentation process which is coffee husk and coffee pulp in bioprocesses. 1) Production of enzyme The residues have been used for the production of enzymes such as pectinase, tannase and caffeinase [2]. The producton is carried out by Solid State Fermentation (SSF) where the substrate is the coffee husk and pulp by using the strain of Aspergillus niger. 2) Production of mushrooms The cultivation of 3 types of mushrooms that are Lentinus edodes, Pleurotus sp. and Volvariella sp. by using treated coffee husk and pulp (with hot water) and resulted in good mycelia growth and good fruiting bodies were obtained. The biological efficiency reached 85.8%. it was

concluded that these residues could be used for the cultivation of these mushrooms. The product is also increase in protein content [2]. 3) Citric acid Coffee husk has been used as the substrate for the production of citric acid via SSF using strain Aspergillus sp. The yield could reach 12.72 kg/kg dry matter. Addition of mineral ions such as Zn, Cu, Fe and Mg has been found useful for fungal growth [2]. 4) Aroma compound SSF method is used by using coffees residue as the substrate and the microbe is the yeast, Pachysolen tannophilus for synthesizing aroma compounds. Example of the aroma that can be obtained is banana and pineapple [2]. 5) Production of Feed (Cattle) Coffee pulps consist of 50% carbohydrate, 10% protein, 2.5% fat and 18% fibres and appear to be a good food supplement for animals [2].

REFERENCES 1) C.F. Silva, R.F. Schwan, E.S. Dias, A.E. Wheals (2000). Microbial diversity during maturation and natural processing of coffee cherries of Coffea arabica in Brazil. International Journal of Food Microbiology 60. (251-260) 2) A. Pandey, C.R. Soccol, P. Nigam, D. Brand, R. Mohan, S. Roussos (2000). Biotechnological potential of coffee pulp and coffee husk for bioprocesses. Biochemical Engineering Journal. (153-162) 3) C. C. Lin (2010). Approach of improving coffee industry in Taiwan -Promote Quality of coffee bean by fermentation. The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 5. (154-159).