Coffee & Teas

The coffee bean is actually the seed or "pit" of an evergreen tropical bush, which grows to as high as 15 feet. The coffee "cherries" start as small white jasmine-like flowers and mature to a bright red “cherry” when ripe. Each coffee cherry contains 2 halves (or beans) and there are two major species of coffee that are grown for commercial use, Caffea Arabica and Caffea Robusta.

Harvest Café Coffee Company roasts only highest quality Arabica beans. These are grown at a very high altitude, with careful attention to the soil quality, amount of shade and weather conditions. Arabica beans contain approximately 50% less caffeine than the inferior Robusta beans. In addition, Arabica yields far less coffee per bush than Robusta. Robusta typically has a dirty or rusty flavor to it.  It is in wide use in Espresso Coffee Blends with some of the larger Commercial Roasters.

Most coffee is processed using one of two methods, wet or dry.  Washed or wet processing uses huge amounts of water and mechanically removes the outer shell from the inner parchment and beans. The beans are then fermented to loosen the beans from the surrounding parchment. The parchment is then milled to release the beans inside. The dry process is much simpler - the coffee cherries are spread out in the open sunlight to dry. After drying, the dry husks of the coffee are separated away, which leaves the parchment and beans. The parchment is then milled to release the 2 beans inside. If there is only one bean inside, then it is sometimes separated out and called Peaberry (due to its rounded shape).

Specialty Coffee is so named due to the superior quality of the raw product, the careful attention to harvesting, sorting, processing and roasting. Only about 10% of the Arabica beans can be legitimately referred to as "Specialty." Harvest Cafe Coffee Company seeks only the top 1 or 2 percent of these coffees, which are considered excellent representatives of their growing regions.