I would like to share some valuable information regarding the amount of used during harvest and post harvest coffee production. Since the World Water Day in Portland was a success, I believe more detailed information regarding the link between this essential element and coffee would be appropriate. I would like to highlight some facts relating water and coffee.

Water is a key component of any plant growing process. Plant physiology is a build-up process, while human and animal physiology is a break-down process. Plants need raw materials such as carbon dioxide, sunlight and water in order to flourish. As water makes up 80 percent of the plants body, it is essential for two main reasons. The first is for physiological needs and the second is for carrier functions. The carrier function enables the plant to dissolve nutritional elements, allowing them to be absorbed by the plant roots. Water is essential in carrying the nutrient enriched molecules to the plant. From the plants point of view, too much water or too little water reduces the efficiency of its metabolism. (Source: Institute for micronutrient technology).

At the post harvest level, the need for water varies considerably based on the type of process. For instance, when water is a scarce resource (in parts of Ethiopia or Yemen) there is no option for processing the cherries other than by drying the cherries completely by sunlight. This coffee drying process is called Natural. Alternatively, when coffee is processed by washing it, it could use many gallons of water. There are three main processes involving water usage for producing washed Arabicas.

The first one is called the traditional method. In this process, washed Arabica coffee uses excessive water to transport the cherry to the
Pulp tank depulping machine, then the pulp to the deposit tank and finally to wash the fermented coffee. Within this process, the approximate amount of water needed to process 1.6 pounds of green bean is 11 gallons of clean water. The picture shows the starting point of this process.

The second process uses gravity to transport the cherry to the intake point at the depulping machine, and then the pulp is dropped by gravity to a tank in the lowest part of the infrastructure. Nevertheless, the coffee needs to be washed at the washing stage right after having been fermented. Within this process, the approximate amount of water needed to process 1.6 pounds of green bean is 6 gallons of clean water.

The third process is called “Belcosub” in Spanish. In this method, a different technology is applied to remove the mucilage from the parchment. This helps to reduce the use of water because it is connected to a piece of equipment after the depulping machine, avoiding the washing stage that takes places following the fermentation. This process removes and washes the remaining mucilage in one step reducing the need of water significantly. Within this process, the approximate amount of water needed to process 1.6 pounds of green bean is 0.26 gallons of clean water.


Belcosub technology.
Although the last process is more environmentally friendly, there are a few considerations that must be taken into account before implementing it. First, the cost involved with the equipment needed is not cheap. Secondly, it reduces the fermentation process from the original time of 14-22 hours to only a few seconds. Many people argue that washed Arabicas must undergo the traditional fermentation process in order to develop all the nuances and characteristics of a good Arabica. The discussion still open.

Enjoy. Any comments ...