PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GAYO ARABICA COFFEE WITH SEMI WASHED PROCESSING

Sherly, Hotnida Sinaga*, Elisa Julianti

Food Science and Technology, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

*Email: hotnida.sinaga@uq.net.au

Abtract: One of the biggest trading commodities in Indonesia is Coffee. Sumatra Island makes big
contribution in meeting the exports needs of coffee in Indonesia. Gayo, Aceh is one of the area in
Sumatra Island that are famous for producing coffee with distinctive characteristics due to uniqe
geographical condition and climate. Goal of this studies is to know physical quality of Gayo Green
Coffee Bean using Indonesia Semi Washed Processing Method compare to Fully Washed Processing
Method. Result shows that green bean had lower moisture content due to over exposure while
drying. Green coffee bean were produce in small batch that it made it easier to control over
production condition which resuting in lower triage percentage and defect point. Color and aroma of
green coffee bean also indicating good result of processing which is bluish-gree color and pleasant
aroma of fresh grass and sweet sugar cane aroma. Compare to Fully washed, Semi washed had more
trige and defect point do to some processing steps which could be improved by more controled
processing steps or sortatation on ready to stored green bean. Further research are needed to
compare the taste between semi washed and fully washed coffee.

Keyword:Green coffee bean, quality, grading

1. Introduction
Increasing demand of coffee recently had driven several increase production of coffee in
Indonesia. According to (International Coffee Organization, 2018) Indonesia is the world number
4 coffee producer when in past year are number 6 in 2016. Sumatra island is arabica coffee
producer which contributes 30% of Indonesia national coffee production. Specialty coffee is
coffee that grows in a special micro-geographic climate resulting in a distinctive and unique taste
that is well-known among the international community. Specialty coffee also tends to be stated
as high quality and unique coffee because of it’s special processing ( Saragih, 2018).
Gayo, Aceh is a large coffee producing area that has recieved certificate of geographical
indication since 2010 as a large coffee-producing area that produces superior coffee
characteristics due to geographical conditions and climate. In 2018, Aceh 124.236.000 HA of
coffee plantation with 70.774.000 Ton of coffee production. According to (ICCRI, 2008), SCAA
categorized Gayo Arabica Coffee as Specialty coffee because of thick body, complex flavor, with
distinctive aroma made Gayo arabica coffee one of the most popular coffee on the International
market.
However, the intense competition in the international market requires coffee products that
are not only unique but also of high quality and sustainable. Post harvest processing are one of
the most important factor affecting coffee quality since coffee cherries transform into green
coffee bean through processing (Sunarharum et. al., 2018) Unfortunately, the value of indonesian
coffee is also not optimal because most of the coffee bean exports are in form of green beans
which could be maximized by exporting Roasted coffee bean instead. According to (Kustiari,
2007) The problem of Indonesian Coffee marketing, especially in the international market is the
low quality of the coffee production.
 Semi washed coffee processing is a combination of dry processing and wet processing. The
combination of mechanical peeling in dry processing could shorten processing and fermentation
timein wet processing can improve the coffee quality. (Cortez dan Menez, 2012). There is
different style of semi washed processed between Indonesia and another country. According to
(Poltronieri and Rossi, 2016), semi washed coffee in Indonesia was made by pulping coffee
mechanically and then washed of mucilage after storing and then dried until 30-35% moisture
content.
After fermentation, mucilage began to came off which indicate coffee are ready to be
washed. After washing, coffee are dried under the sun until partialy dried around 30-35% of
moisture content and then went through hulling. After hulling, coffee bean dried under the sun
until hte moisture content reach 13% and then after drying, coffee bean are ready to be stored.
Semi washed usualy produce coffee with more intense flavor and bold body that support the
characteristics of Sumatra coffee. Removing mucilage from coffee parchment are important since
mucilage could prolong drying time and could lead to unwanted growing of microorganisms
(Haile and Kang, 2019).
Fully washed coffee processing is conventional form of coffee processing in general. Pulp and
skin of coffee cherry are removed using water and fermentation. After fermentation, mucilage
could be removed by controlled washing after 12-48 hour of fermentation (Poltronieri and Rossi,
2016). In this study, fully washed as comparisson to semi washed processing to compare physical
quality of two processing.
The economic value of coffee is determined apart from it’s origin as well as by its quality.
Price of exported green coffee bean is determined based on the quality it has. Qualities of green
coffee beans includes moisture content, defects, chemical compounds and cup tasting.
Determining quality of green coffee bean must be done efficient, quick and easy to practiced
(Bicho, et. al, 2014). The quality of green coffee beans can affect consumer accpetance. This is
because quality of green coffee bean could affect organoleptic value of the product. The aim of
this study to determined the physical quality of Gayo Coffee produced with Semi Washed
Processing.
2. Material and Methods
The raw component for this research was riped and only red coffee chery from Gayo, Aceh.
Characteristics of coffee cherry that are ideal for haversting is entirely bright red. Size and how
long does cherry takes to riped depends on variety and climate with geographical condition.

2.1 Research Methods

Semi Washed Process

Gayo Coffee cherries are sorted by soaking coffee cheries in a soaking tank. The purpose of
soaking coffee cherries is to distinguish floater and sinker in which floater includes cherries that
does not meet standard like rotten, broken or unripe cherries and other foreign material. After
soaking, coffee cheries then went through pulping to remove outer skin of coffee cherries. After
pulping, coffee with mucilage still attached are stored in plastic burlap 12-48 hour for
fermentation. The purpose of fermentation is to remove mucilage and when the mucilage began
to came off, it indicates that coffee are ready to be washed with water. After washing, coffee is
dried under the sun until partialy dried around 30-35% of moisture content and then went
through hulling. After hulling, coffee bean then dried under the sun until 13%. After drying, green
coffee bean are ready to be stored.
 Fully Washed Process
Gayo Coffee cherries are sorted by soaking coffee cherries in a soaking tank. After soaking,
coffee went through pulping to remove outer skin of coffee cherries. After pulping, coffee with
mucilage still attached will be soaked in water in the soaking tank. Soaking takes 12-48 hours until
mucilage start to came off. Coffee then washed with water until mucilage came of entirely. After
washing, coffee then dried until 13-15% before being hulled.
Moisture Cotent
Moisture content determination of sample was carried out based on AOAC (1995). 5 gram of
sample were put into aluminium plates which had been dried for 1 hour at 105 oC and the weight
of aluminum plates was known. The sample was heated at 105oC for three hours then cooled in a
desicator until cold and then weighed. Heating and cooling are repeated until a constant sample
weight is obtained.

(initial sample weighed−final sample weighed )

Moisture Content¿ ×100 %
initial sample weighed

Triage Test
Triage test was done by grading and sorting dried coffee bean manually from 300 gram of
sampel. Abnormal bean was sorted and weighed and then calculated with

abnormal∧bad bean
Triage test ¿ × 100 %
initial sampel weighed

Defect point
Defect point was calculated according to SNI 01-2907-2008. Abnormal bean obtained from
triage test then categorized and calculated according to deffect point table.
Color and Aroma
Color and aroma of green coffee bean are determined by simple observation.

2.2 Data Analysis

This analysis used a non factorial completely randomized design with no factor with 4
replication. Parameter analyzed were moisture content, triage test, defect point, colour and
aroma of green bean and size of green coffee bean.

3. Result and Disscusion

Physical testing on the sample can be seen in the Table 1. below.
Table 1. Physical properties of Gayo Green Coffee Bean Semi Washed and Gayo Green Coffee Bean Fully Washed
Mean Moisture Content (%) Triage Test (%) Defect Point Color and Aroma

Gayo Green Coffee 9,829% 12,25% 26 Bluish-green, pleasant aroma of

Bean Semi Washed fresh grass and sugar cane

Gayo Green Coffee 9,774% 11,5% 24 Greenish,

Bean Fully Washed Pleasant aroma Sugar cane and
basmati rice
a. Moisture content
Moisture content is one of the most important coffee quality point because it relates to
shelf life, texture, appearance and cup taste. (Rita, et. al., 2012). In the coffee industry,
moisture content is the benchmark whether it is done or not coffee drying is completed.
Usually, farmer will use Ceratester to test moisture content of coffee bean.
In this study, moisture content tested using oven method. Semi washed green coffee
bean and Fully washed had 9-10% moisture content after dried under the sun and ready to
be stored. Excessive drying is due to hot climate in Indonesia which causes rapid evaporation
of water and small batch of coffee process causing coffee to dried easily. Semi washed and
fully washed coffee had almost the same moisture content rate is becaused booth are dried
under same condition and controled to be stored at the same moisture content level.
The same result are obtained by (Hardi, et. al., 2019), final moisture content of Gayo
Semi washed green coffee bean is 9,32% which is good enough according to SNI and good in
condition for storing according to experienced local farmer from Gayo. Maximum Moisture
Content of stored coffee bean according to SNI are 12,5% maximum. This is because coffee
bean moisture content are always checked before storing. Moisture content bettween 8-
12% is suitable for green coffee bean strorage to avoid microbial growth and altered sensory
quality of coffee (Caporaso, et. al, 2018).
b. Triage Test
Triage or ‘Trase’ or ‘deffect’ are obtained from 300 gram of coffee sample. The higher
the triage percentage, the worse the quality of the coffee bean. Deffective coffee beans after
coffee production processes represents around 15-20% on weight basis
(Ramalakshmi, 2007). Defects obtain from green coffee bean are done manually by picking
abnormal beans which later will be clasify at coffee deffect point test.
Low triage percentage in the study are caused by small batch of production which lead
to more selected raw material and more controlled condition of production than industries
large scale production. In a large scale production, it tend to have foreign material enter
during drying process and the coffee cherry that are unriped or bad. This condition will
results in a high triage percentage.
Semi washed green coffee bean appear to have higher triage point than fully washed
coffee. Most of semi washed coffee defect is beacuse of in fully washed, drying only
happened once and step of processing are fewer than semi washed process which will
minimize foreign material contamination while processing like peble, stone or dry leaf sinceit
is sun dried. On semi washed processed, hulling is done when coffee bean are still quite high
on moisture content which cause coffee bean easily damage and broken into smaller pieces.
Same result obtained by (Sunarharum, et. al., 2018), which, higher defect value was
obtained from sundried semi washed processed in than from sundried fully washed
processed. Defects mainly are spotty beans, broken beans and coffee with parchment.
Defects are affected by post-processing method and drying method, where sundried coffe
appeared to had higher deffects percentage than mechanical drying.
c. Defect point
Coffee grading is carried out based on defects points in 300 gram of green coffee bean.
According to (Kusumo, 2014) , Coffee grading is done manually by counting number of
 deffects in the sample Regulation for determining coffee defects point in Indonesia are
determined based on SNI 01-2907-2008 or by SCAA standard. In this study, defects point are
scaled based on SNI 01-2907-2008 standard. The higher the defects point in coffee, the
lower the grade of the coffee bean quality.
It is shown that Gayo Green Coffee Bean with semi washed processed had 26 deffect
point while fully washed are 24. Processed are done in small batch and using only ripe and
red coffee cherry resulting in lower defects point. More defect point on semi washed is
caused by higher level of broken beans due to hulling processed that are done while beans
are still high in moisture content level and coffee that still had parchment attached. This lead
to crack even broken of coffee beans causing higher defect point.
According to (Sunarharum, et. al., 2018), Sundried semi washed coffee are more
expossed to defects such as coffee parchment, spotty bean and broken bean. Sundried fully
washed are least exposed to deffect. Fully washed deffect are most likely spotty and broken
bean. Same as study result, this is due to hulling was done in semi washed while
green coffee bean are still 30% of moisture content which could lead to some coffee
parchment not hulled.
d. Colour and aroma
Colour and odor test of green coffee are carried out by simple observation. Gayo green
coffee bean with semiwashed processed shows pleasant aroma of fresh grass dan sweet
aroma of sugar cane which indicate that green coffee bean is still new. According to
(Selmar, et. al., 2008), the longer the coffee is stored, the more it will develop flat, woody
and stale aroma. It was shown that green bean. According to (Yusianto, et. al., 2007), Color
of green coffee bean are significantly affected by storage duration. Only Blue green-green,
green-bluish or bluish green and green are qualify to be specialty coffee according to SCCA.
Green coffee bean color standard by SCAA.
Both semiwashed and fully washed coffee had differrent but still pleasant aroma.
According to (Tesfa, 2018), while treated with good processing, drying and harvesting of
coffee cherry will prevent green bean from having unpleasent odor. Different aroma
bettween Semi Washed and Fully washed are caused by different fermentation process.
According to (Klingel et. al., 2020) sugar in coffee mucilage was break down by
microorganism like bacteria, yeast and fungi and then they produce alcohols and acid that
affected aroma and taste of coffee.
According to (Sunarharum, et. al., 2018), sundried semiwashed coffee are more higher in
redness color than sundried fully washed coffee that are more light and greenish. Odor of
semi washed green coffee bean also more grassy and earthy while sundried fully washed are
more fermented and grassy. Different result of color and aroma are beacause
(Sunarharum, et. al., 2018), are using Java arabica coffe while in this study sample are
Gayo arabica coffee. Different origin could produce different characteristic thugh going
through same processing.

4. Conclusion
Gayo green coffee bean with semiwashed processed had higher triage and defect points
compare to fully washed processed. This is because in sundrying method, fully washed had
least risk of contamiantion by foreign material than semi washed that had more steps of
processing. Hulling in seimiwahed was carried on while beans are still high in moisture
 content which lead to higher broken chip and coffee with parchment rate. Semi washed
coffee are still acceptable because triage and deffects point are still categorized in ‘Mutu 2’
according to SNI. Color and odor of two coffee processing are different due to fermentation
process. Pleasant odor, bluish and greenish color of green bean are sign of acceptable green
coffe bean. Triage and defect point might be minimize by more controlled producing system
and sorting green bean before storing and selling. Future examination on cupping test are
required.

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