Caribbean Gold Coffee of St. John, USVI,
uses only the finest washed Arabica beans

Arabica Coffee vs Robusta Coffee | Arabica Coffee Plant | Harvesting the Coffee Bean | Washed Arabica Beans | Grading Coffee Beans

Arabica Coffee versus Robusta Coffee

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The two primary types of coffee that Americans drink are Arabica and Robusta. Arabicas are delicate and require a higher, cooler, climate with plenty of moisture and a rich soil. Robustas are one of the most abundant species of coffee beans. It is a tougher plant, more resistant to pests and disease and thus has a higher yield of beans per plant. Because of lower production costs it is the Robusta bean that is most commonly used for North American instant and canned coffee.

Robusta coffee has almost twice the amount of caffeine as Arabica Coffee. The unroasted robusta coffee bean smells somewhat like a raw peanut, and when roasted they are less aromatic.. The Arabica coffee beans have a wider taste range, from sweet to tangy and before they are roasted they smell somewhat fruity and sugary. Almost 70% of the world's coffee is made with Arabica coffee beans.

 

The Arabica Coffee Plant

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Grown at altitudes over 2,000 feet above sea level the Arabica coffee plants can reach a height of 20 feet but are kept under 10 to facilitate harvesting. It takes 3 to 4 years for a new Arabica coffee plant to mature enough to produce the flowers which will then produce the berries containing the two flat seeds that are the coffee beans. An Arabica coffee plant can remain productive for 40 approximately years and each tree can produce 8-10 pounds of coffee a year
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Arabica Coffee Beans are Selectively Hand Picked

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Arabica coffee beans are harvested during the dry season, 9 months after blossoming while the berries are cherry red, glossy, and firm.

There are several methods used to harvest coffee beans: selective picking is done by hand and produces the best results and the finest coffee, other methods are stripping and mechanical harvesting.

The selective picking method is by far the more expensive and time consuming way to harvest coffee beans. Several passes are made at each coffee plant by pickers who only gather the fully ripened beans leaving the greener ones for a future pass.

With the other methods, stripping and mechanical harvesting, green cherries are inevitably mixed in with the others resulting in a courser, more bitter coffee.

 

Washed Arabica Beans

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Immediately after being picked and before processing the coffee beans are prepared by either a dry method, where the beans are dried in the sun or in a mechanical dryer, (the oldest, simplest and cheapest way), or by the wet method.

The wet method entails partially peeling the coffee beans, softening them and allowing them to ferment in water before drying either in the sun or in a mechanical dryer. Once the coffee bean is dried a huller is used to remove the last 2 layers that remain on the bean.

The wet method is a more expensive and time consuming way to prepare the coffee bean however it produces the "washed coffee' which in turn produces the finest bean for roasting. The process of washing the recently harvested coffee bean releases many impurities and acid agents giving the resulting coffee a richer and purer taste and aroma.

 

Coffee Beans are Graded by Size and then by Density

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Before packaging the coffee beans for exportation they are graded by pruning them through holes of specific sizes. Then they are separated by density using an air-jet that separates the heavy from the light beans. The unhulled coffee beans and all defective, cracked or discolored beans are removed by hand before bagging. The largest and heaviest beans are given the highest grade.

Caribbean Gold Coffee beans are 100% Washed Arabica beans of the best grade. They come mostly from Colombia and Kenya where the beans are renowned for producing the most flavorful and aromatic coffees.