Coffee production (Agfo 2044)

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
 Chapter objectives

At the end of this chapter, students will be able to:

 Explain origin, history & spread of coffee

 Describe the present status of coffee production &

consumption

 Identify the importance of coffee (economic,

social, biological, etc..,)

1
1.1. Origin, history and spread of coffee
 Coffee- ‘Kaffa’ (where coffee was first discovered/ the word
for coffee points to its birthplace)

 The ancient region of Eth. called Kaffa, a highland area with rich soil & cool
temperatures that make for the perfect conditions to grow Coffea arabica,

 Ethiopia has more than 70 ethnic groups speaking different languages

 As result, coffee is described as Bunna (Amharic), Bun (Tigrigna),

Buna (Afan Oromo), Buno (Keffigna) & Kahawa (Guragigna)

 In different countries, coffee has different names, French & Spanish

(Café), Italians (caffe), Germans (Kaffee)

 All have phonetic approximation of the original Ethiopian word

 The genus Coffea L. is the only member of the Rubiaceae(a family of

flowering plants), used as a beverage & contains about 100 species

2
 But the most important species are:
 Coffea Arabica - accounts up to 80% of world’s
coffee production
 Coffea canephora - 20%

 Coffea liberica - less than 1%

 Coffee Arabica:
 Accounts over 90% of world market followed by
Coffea canephora
 In Ethiopia, coffee arabica is the only species of
production

 More than 34 selections & three hybrids(offspring of two plants or

animals of different species or varieties, such as a mule ) with better yield, quality
& pest resistance have been released by (JARC) 3
 Why is Coffee arabica called Arabica coffee? b/se,

 The plant species Coffea Arabica got its name around the 7th century,

 when the bean crossed the Red Sea from Eth. to present-

day Yemen & lower Arabia, hence the term "arabica,

Is Arabica coffee Arabic?

 Since it originates from Ethiopia & was first cultivated in

Yemen, & known by the 12th century, Coffea arabica is

called (ّ‫) بُن‬būnn) in Arabic, borrowed from the Oromo "Buna“,

4
 Ethiopia and Coffee Arabica
 Researchers such as sylvan (1958), confirmed that Ethiopia is
the mother land of coffee

 There are three important things that explain coffee is

native to Ethiopia instead of Yemen:
 Its presence in the massive areas of Kaffa & Buno districts
 Spontaneous/natural existence in the forest of Ethiopia

 Its wider adaptability to Ethiopia’s conditions

Coffea canephora-set in Congo

 Coffea liberica - Liberia
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 Significance of studying origin
 To describe the plant botanically
 To study environmental requirements, natural habits,
soil type, Rain fall, pH etc.
 To learn their variability:

 Drought resistance

 Disease resistance (CBD, CLR, Geberella etc.)

 Quality and yield
 How did coffee moves to different parts of the world?
 It is uncertain that how coffee was taken from
Ethiopia where it was first harvested from forest, to
the land it was first cultivated, Yemen
6
 Wellman (1961) said, coffee moved during latter part of
the Sassanid Dynastys of Persia

 There was an invasions of Yemen by the Persian army

 They were travelled over land from Persia and up to the Nile
Valley

 The armies stayed long in territory/areas of the high lands

of Ethiopia

 Even, there was a short water trip to Arabia across the

Red sea

 During this time, the Persia took the interested crops such
as coffee, spice and gold from Ethiopia 7
On the other hand………..
 Negroes moved from South of Sudan to Yemen via
Ethiopia

 During the desert slaves, probably they took the coffee

beans from Ethiopia

 Coffee is now spread almost all over the world and it is

being produced in different contents of the world Asia,
Africa, America and Australia
⇒ In Eth., Coffee distribution can be put into two different
categories based on their level of production
1. Major coffee growers- in Ethiopia includes Kaffa,
Illubabor, Wellega, Sidamo and Hararghe
8
2. Minor Coffee growers- These includes, Showa, Northern
& Southern Omo, Gojjam, Gondar and Wello
 In general, coffee is being produced almost in all
regions of the country &

 More than 4% of the country's cultivable land is covered

with coffee

How coffee consumption start?

 The first knowledge and use of coffee is not certainly
known

 There are many legends around the discovery of

coffee each existing in variety of ways
9
 The most widely cited story (legend) about the
discovery of coffee is the goat- herd kalid

 He noticed that his goats revealed excitedly after

chewing berries from coffee bushes
 He was interested and tested the fruits one day and
was so refreshed and greatly stimulated and danced
along with his goats
 Kalid told this secret to monk and asked the monk to try
the fruits
 The monk then ate the fruits and was kept awake during
his long prayers at night
 The monk could pray longer without sleepiness
 Coffee was accepted as a stimulant drink and spread
to the other part of the world where the faithful prayed
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1.2. Importance of coffee
1. Economic importance
} Coffee is next to petroleum in the world market in earning foreign
currency for developing country

} It’s by far Eth’s most important export crop in the national

economy, contributing decisively to the country foreign currency
income

} It accounts for 60-70% of the total agricultural export earnings and

10-20% of the total government revenue

} The livelihood of 25% of the total population directly or indirectly

depends on its production, processing and marketing

} Coffee is 5th important crop in the world after wheat, cotton,

maize and rice
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} The most dependent country in the world is Rwanda
95%
} The least dependent country in the world is Brazil but Brazil is the
most coffee producing country in the world
} This is because, Brazil export a number of products like cacao,
spice and vegetable

2. Biological importance
Ω Coffee contains the stimulating substance called caffeine (C8 H10
N4 O2)

Ω It also contains other aromatic substance such as furfurol,

Aldehydes, Phenole s, Hydrogen and Mercaptans

Ω The only medically and socially stimulant in coffee is the alkaloid

caffeine

Ω It is contained in the different parts of the plant but it is rich in the

seed
12
The caffeine content of coffee plant parts (Arabica coffee)

Plant part Caffeine (%) on dry matter basis

•Pulp/seed 0.37 - 0.60%

•Parchment skin 0.14%

•Cherry husk 0.12 - 0.52%

•Apical leaf 0.32%
•Middle leaf 0.35%
•Twigs 0.35%
•Wood 0.12%

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The chemical composition of the coffee bean
Bean composition percentage

 Water 12%

 Protein 13%

 Fat 12%

 Sugar 9%

 Caffeine 1 - 15%

 Cafietonic acid 9%

 Other water soluble substances 5%

 Cellulose and allied substances 35%

 Ash 4% 14
3. Social
 In Ethiopia, coffee is traditionally prepared and drunk 2
to 3 times a day
 Ethiopia has various special cultural ceremonies related
to coffee:

 It is a means of serving a respected guest

 It is means of gathering neighbors to discuss

economic, social and other matters
 The two beans are considered as love for
pledging parties especially in some African
countries
 These culture represent a strong heritage for
the country’s sustainable coffee
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 Currently, Coffee is consumed in a variety of ways/methods:
1. Buna kela (Slaughtering Coffee)
 Coffee is consumed/eat in accompanied with
roasted barley, wheat and chick pea

 Popular in most coffee growing areas of the country

 Long distance travelers or hunter in Gedio & Borena

still use it

 While in Wollega it is prepared on special cultural &

family occasions

 It is socially high valuable

 A respected food to be served as the 1st dish to

celebrate the birth of new child 16
2. Kuti
 In most areas, coffee is prepared from roasted &
pounded green beans & leaves described as Bunna,
Buno, Bun, etc.
 It is infusions/mixtures of roasted & ground coffee-leaves with
boiled milk
 Common in Hararghe
3. Hoja
 It is prepared from husks mixed with milk &
 is drunk with salt instead of sugar
 Common in Hararghe

4. Chemo
 Common in Kaficho & Shakicho zones
 Coffee leaves collected from wild coffee plants are
brewed and spiced with pepper & ginger to prepare
Chamo 17
physiological effects of Coffee
 Increased muscular and cerebral activity

 Often consumed to prolong wakefulness

 It has heart stimulating effects which contribute to its diuretic

effect(This makes it easier for your heart to pump)

 Caffeine has a good production of nitrogen which is

readily absorbed by the body
 It is mild stimulant non-habit forming with temporary
and transitory effect
 No depression effect initially or eventually
 Caffeine is not a narcotic because it is used to

counteract/lessen narcosis
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 Decrease blood sugar

 Insensibility from hashish or opium is ended by the

use of caffeine medication- because not tide in

the blood
Dullness and sense of depression from a little to
much tobacco is helped by coffee
Recent report indicates that coffee consumers
are less susceptible to Asthma disease than
those who do not
Studies suggested that reasonable coffee
consumption of 4 to 5 cups a day for adult
presents no danger
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 Great excess of coffee is known to result in:
 The effect of caffeine varies from person to
person thus we need to determine our own
optimum dose

 Unpleasant tremors/menqetqet

 Nervousness

 Heart Palpitation/speedy heart bit and

 Other temporary discomforts

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1.2. Status of coffee production and consumption
 More than 80 countries produce coffee in the world

 5.5 billion MT coffee produce harvested from 10.7 million

hectare of land worldwide

 In Ethiopia, about 662, 000 ha was covered by coffee

trees

 Of which 496,000 ha are estimated to be productive

 ETH., ranked 8th in the world and 1st in Africa in coffee

production
 ETH’s annual coffee production is approximately
280,000 MT
 Almost ½ of which is consumed domestically
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 Ethiopia exports only 40 to 45% of the total coffee it
produces
 55 - 60% of coffee is consumed locally
 Thus, ETH. is 1st in Africa, 4th in the world in consumption
 Ethiopia is the only country in the world producing such
an important cash crop & consumes more than it
exports
 In general, Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia, Mexico,
Indonesia, Cotedivoiar, Uganda, Ethiopia are the major
coffee producing countries in the World

 Whereas, USA, Belgium, France, Saudi Arabia, Japan,

UK, Italy, Germany are the major coffee importing
countries
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Problems of coffee production in Ethiopia
1. Structural problems:
 Lack of competitiveness (low yields & p y); productivity);
 Poor access to market & long supply chain;
 Lack of infrastructure;
 Inadequate access to services (particularly financial
services, risk management etc.);
 Low value addition; and
 Low value addition; and
 Inadequate technology transfer & research (coffee
genome, conservation, biodiversity etc.).
2. Policy problems:
 Low levels of public investment in agriculture;

 Disengagement of the state in production & marketing activities;

 Liberalization/agricultural reforms historically poorly executed

 Weak institutional framework in many countries

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3. Sustainability:
 Adaptation and mitigation to climate change (and other adverse weather
events)
 Conservation of biodiversity
 Social sustainability: empower women and attract youth
 Competition for land (subsistence farming, biofuels)
Opportunities
The Ethiopian coffee sector has bright prospects:
The country has:

 suitable altitude, ample rainfall, optimum temperatures,

 appropriate planting materials, low labor costs and fertile soil,

The country can:

 sustainably produce & supply fine specialty coffee, with potential

of producing all coffee types of the various world coffee growing
origins,

 Reading assignment on other opportunities? 24

Coffee Production Systems
 Four types of coffee production system in Ethiopia:
1. Forest Coffee
Found in South and South-Western Ethiopia

These are the centers of origin of coffee arabica

Self-sown and grown under the full coverage of

natural forest trees

Has a wide diversity for selection and breeding for

disease resistance

It offers high yields and top-quality aroma/shitta and flavor/taim

Accounts for about 10 % of Ethiopia's total coffee
production
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2. Semi-Forest Coffee
Also found in the South and South-Western parts of
the country

Farmers acquire forest land for coffee farms, and

then

Thin and select the forest trees to ensure both

adequate sunlight and proper shade for the coffee
trees

They slash the weeds once a year to facilitate the

coffee bean harvest
 Accounts about 35 % of Ethiopia's total coffee production

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 3. Garden Coffee
 Grown in the vicinity of farmer's residences, mainly in
the Southern and Eastern parts of the country

 The coffee is planted at low densities, ranging from

1,000 to 1,800 trees per hectare

 Is mostly fertilized with organic waste and is

intercropped with other crops

 Accounts about 35% of Ethiopia's total coffee

production

 But this is set to increase the introduction of the system

into south-west Ethiopia
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 4. Plantation Coffee

Grown on plantations owned by the state and

some well-managed smallholder coffee farms
 Here, recommended seedlings are used & proper
spacing, and mgts are practiced

 Only state-owned plantations use chemical fertilizers &

herbicides

 Accounts only about 5% of total production

 Well-managed smallholder coffee farms account for

about 15 % of Eth’s total production

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CHAPTER 2. BOTANY OF COFFEE
Chapter objectives
At the end of this section students will be able to:
 Describe botany and morphology of coffee
 Differentiate botanical Varieties and Mutants of Coffee arabica
Coffee botany: the scientific study of the physiology, structure,
genetics, ecology, distribution, classification, and economic
importance of coffee plant,
Classification:
 Family - Rubiaceae
 This is a large family, includes 400 genera and 5000 species
 Largely trees and shrubs
 Mostly tropical crop
 Commercially important coffee spp:
There are three commercially important coffee species in the world
 Coffea arabica (Arabica Coffee)
 Coffea Canephora (Robusta Coffee)
 Coffea liberica (Liberica Coffee) 29
Table 2. Characteristics of economically important coffee varieties
Basis of comparison C. Arabica C. Robusta C. Liberica

Origin Ethiopia Congo Liberia

Chromosome number Allotetraploide(2n=44) Diploid(2n=22) Diploid(2n=22)
Yield/ha 327.5 Kg 810Kg 466Kg
Cheery size Medium Small Large
Caffeine content of beans1 – 1.5 2 – 2.5 1.4 – 1.6
(%)
Pollination habit Self fertile Self sterile Self sterile
Bearing age 2-3 years 3-4 years 4-5 years
Cup quality Good Fair Bad (Bitter)
Leaf size Small Large Medium
Tree height (cultivated) 1.5 – 1.82m 2 – 2.5m 2 – 2.5m
Relative care Most Medium Least
Heat tolerance Poorest Intermediate Best
Altitude 600 –1600m 180 –720m 0 – 540m
Drought hardness Fair Good Best
Coffee leaf rust Susceptible Tolerant Resistant

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2.1 Botanical Varieties and Mutants of Coffee arabica
✤ Although varieties are locally grouped as: Jimma, Agaro,
Chochie, Yirgalem, Dilla, Harar, Wellega, Yirgachefe etc.
✤ There are two varieties of coffee arabica
1. Coffee Arabica Variety -typica
⇨ Is the primitive variety
⇨ Has the dominant alleles TT

⇨ Young leaves are reddish brown & bronze tipped

⇨ Leaves are relatively narrow

⇨ Growth is fast & vigorous

⇨ Plants have small & horizontal branching system

⇨ Still, it’s providing the bulk of the world’s coffee

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2. Coffee Arabica Variety-bourbon
✏ has double recessive alleles tt,
✏ Young leaves are always green tipped

✏ Leaves are relatively broad,

✏ Primarily, fruiting branches are born at an acute angle

✏ Trees are slender if not topped,

✏ It is higher in yield under favorable conditions than typica

✏ There are large number of naturally occurring mutants

originating from variety typica & bourbon,

such as catura, columnaries, erecty and monospers

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✏ There are also commercially grown cultivars in different coffee growing countries

✏ This includes:
✑ Blue mountains - found in Jamaica from arabica,
- Resistant to CBD
✑ Kents - Found in India
- High yields of good quality
- moderately resistant to CLR but susceptible to CBD
✑ Mundo Novo - in Brazil
-It is a cross b/n arabica & bourbon
-Vigorous & high yielding
✏ In Eth. also, a lot of coffee varieties have been selected
& released for production,
✏ These varieties are acquired via selection &
hybridization activities,

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Table 3. In ETH. some of the released CBD resistant varieties
NO. Variety/cultivar Year of released Yield(q/ha) Canopy
On station On-farm
1 741 1977/78 12.2 6-7 Open
2 744 1979/80 16.6 8-9 Open
3 7440 1979/80 16.2 8-9 intermediate
4 7454 1980/81 18.3 8-9 intermediate
5 7487 1980/81 23.8 9-10 intermediate
6 74110 1978/79 19.1 9-10 Compact
7 74112 1978/79 18.1 9-10 Compact
8 74140 1978/79 19.7 9-10 Compact
9 74148 1979/80 18.0 6-7 Compact
10 74158 1978/79 19.1 9-10 Compact
11 74165 1978/79 17.3 8-9 Compact
12 754 1980/81 14.8 7-8 Compact
13 75227 1980/81 17.9 8-9 open
14 Dessu 1982 20.0 Open
15 Ababuna (741 x Dessu)* 23.8 15.5 Open
16 Melko-CH2 (7395 x Dessu)* 24.0 13.1 Intermediate
17 Catimor J-19
18 Catimor J-21
19 Gesiha
20 Me’oftu
21 Gawe*
22 Angafa
23 Bune washy
24 MerdaCherico
25 Wesheweshe
Yachi
26
34
2.2 Morphology of Coffee
The shoot system
⋗ Coffee is a dimorphic(the state of having two d/t kinds of
leaves, flowers, etc. in the same plant) plant having two types of
buds 1 above the other & developing into different branches
1. Orthotropic shoot (Vertical Shoot)
⋇ It is a central and dominant stem
⋇ It bears 10 branches in parts in opposite arrangement
⋇ When the main stem is bent over or apical bud is damaged or
⋇ When there is abnormal T0, the serial buds develop in to
suckers (Orthotropic Shoots)
⋇ There is a single large bud above the serial buds & this is
called head of the serial buds
⋇ If a 10 branch dies or cut by mistake there is no bud to
replace it

35
2. Plagiotropic Shoots- Are also called lateral shoots
≬ Develop from the orthotropic shoot & grow horizontally

≬ Produce vegetative and reproductive buds

≬ Buds that are close to the petiole are appropriate to

develop into inflorescence

≬ Buds distal from the petiole develop to vegetative

growth
≬ If a plagiotropic shoot is cut back before flower
differentiation began, buds nearest to the petiole may
form shoots of the distal type instead of inflorescence
≬ Flowers and fruits born on the laterals, are called bearing
branches
36
Fig.1. Shoot system of coffee plants

37
The major parts of Coffee plant
Leaves/ arrangement, color, shape, texture/
• Leaves occur in pairs on the side of the branches
• They are green, except arabica young leaves
• Elliptical with acuminate tip, Clearly ribbed
• Shiny and Waxy crinkled surface
Flowers
 Flowers are born on laterals branches
 2-6 buds in leaf axils
 The differentiation of buds to flowers depends on:
 Hormones
 Nutritional status and
 Species of coffee
 Usually the first 3 to 4 buds develop into inflorescence (a
group of flowers)
38
 But, there are always some dormant or undeveloped buds after the
main flowering and these may produce flowers for the
next season
 The development of serial bud in to a flower bud is
largely controlled by plant hormones
 Hormones are chiefly activated by:
✑ Photoperiodism(change in day length) and
✑ Drop in temperature(cool season)
 Dormant buds can grow to a length of 4-6 mm and enter in to
a dormant phase until stimulated in to flowering (2-3 months)
 Dormancy is usually broken by:
 A sudden relief of water stress (rehydration) in the
buds and/ or
 A drastic/severe fall in Temperature
 In the coffee field, these stimuli often occur simultaneously
with “blossom showers” at the end of a dry season
39
 Irrigation of any type, even mists, can break the
dormancy period
 After receiving blossom showers (1st showers) during 3-4 days meiosis
takes place in bud & amount of GA increase in bud
 This GA overcomes the inhibiting effect of ABA/abscisic acid
 So, ABA do not increase as GA increase after blossom shower
 Flower buds pass through four d/t stages for initiation to blossoming:
 Dormancy development
 Dormancy breaking
 Initiation of re-growth
 Anthesis or blossoming/flowering
 Probably, immediately after initiation, the buds can be enter in to
dormancy period due to:
⋗ Low temperature and
⋗ High water potential in the tissue
 Endogenous dormancy(dormancy occurs due to chemical changes ) caused by ABA

 Increased temperature and very low water potential due

to water stress progressively reduce or break dormancy
40
 Water stress favors the accumulation of GA

 Increased GA in the tissue reduces or break the dormancy

 Around January there is humidity in the air resulting in:
 Reduced temperature and
 Increased water potential

 Which favors initiation of re-growth

 This is due to sudden drop in temperature (40c/hr.)or

sudden removal of water stress within 10 to 12 days the
whole coffee flowers, or if the area gets a shower of rain
or irrigation during this period
 Cytokinin's are responsible for re-growth and
 This result in anthesis
41
 Coffee has white sweet scented flowers which are
developed 1-2 times per year (major flowerings)
 Flowering starts 8 to 12 days following the wet period
 Flowers open on sunny days early in the morning
 After 2 -3 days begin to wither except the ovary
 The floral formula of coffee is Calyx K(5) Corolla C(5) A(5)
G(2) or (4/5 sepals, 4/5 petals, 4/5 stamen & 2 carpels)
 During abnormally high To star-flowers are developed
 Visually coffee harvesting in Ethiopia begins at middle
September and goes up to mid –December (Sep/Oct-
Dec/January)
 Because we are in north hemisphere
 In Eth, coffee harvesting is carried out in the dry season
(Sep/Oct- Dec/January)
 This is because in the northern hemisphere Coffea
arabica generally flowers from February to march up to May to
June 42
 which means harvesting is carried out from Sep/Oct-
Dec/January
 Where there is successful fertilization, only 40% of the
flowers will be fertilized
 This figure can be dropped to 10-15% in harsh
environments
 Flowers open in the early morning and remain open
throughout the day

 Two (six for robusta ) days later the white corolla withers
and the floral parts fall away leaving the ovary to
develop

 Coffee pollen is light in weight and is easily carried by

the wind (100m)
43
Fruit

▪ Only about 40% of flowers develop into fruits

▪ Most are withered in the first 10 days or never fill

▪ The fruit takes 7 to 9 months to mature

44
The Root System
 Mostly 80 to 90% of the roots are in the top 30cm soil
 The size and distribution of coffee root influenced by:
 Heredity
 Nature of the soil
 Aeration & drainage &
 Mineral resources
 Coffee roots are confined to surface soil if the soil is rich
in humus, heavy rainfall & well distributed
 5 to 6 years after planting, coffee develops full root
system
 There are five different types of roots
1. The tap root
 It is central, short & dominate figure
 Often branched due to transplanting
 Can grow as deep as 1m 45
 Rarely recognizable beyond 45cm
Functions
✑ Stability and anchorage and
✑ Ensure supply of water
2. Axial root

 Arise from tap root

 Grow Verticals to a depth of 3m

 Usually 4 to 8 in number

 Fairy thick and branched

Functions
• Water absorption in dry periods and
• Anchorage for stability
46
3. Lateral roots
☂ Like axial roots lateral roots are arise from the tap root
☂ Grow horizontally as far as 1.2 to 1.8m
☂ Feeding roots in the superficial and richest soil layer

☂ Essential for mineral absorption

☂ Can be surface lateral or lower lateral (subsurface
lateral)
☂ Laterals near the surface are affected by deep
cultivation

☂ In most cool soil the surface laterals are better

developed
☂ Lower laterals are predominating in drier and warmer areas

47
4. Feeder bearers
 They are born on the tap, axial and lateral roots
 Evenly distributed at an interval of 25mm

 Shorter and numerous near the surface of the soil.

 They give rise to the feeder roots

5. Feeder roots

 Are first roots developed on feeder bearers

 Highly branched and numerous

 The main water absorbing roots for coffee

 Their numbers slightly increase near the surface of the soil

48
Fig.3. Different part of coffee plants

49
CHAPTER 3. ECOLOGICAL REQUIREMENTS OF COFFEE
At the end of this section students will be able to:
☂ Select and identify ecological requirements of coffee
3.1 Climate
 Determines the distribution of coffee worldwide and
 Profitability of productions
A good climate allows:
 Annual harvesting
 No alternate bearing(tendency of an entire tree to produce a greater
than average crop one year, and a lower than average crop the following year)

 No failure with die back (characterized by progressive death of

twigs, branches, shoots, or roots, starting at the tips)

 No diseases and insect pests

50
 Basic climatic factors that affect coffee productions includes,
⋇ Temperature
⋇ Rain fall
⋇ Light
⋇ Wind and etc.
 Temperature
⋗ Coffee requires moderate T0
⋗ Extreme fluctuations during day and night have adverse effects
⋗ Optimum day T0 =15 - 240c (Arabica) = for growth &
reproductive and from 24- 30 0c – for canephora)
⋗ For Arabica, T0 > 250c, it decreases photosynthesis,
⋗ T0 > 300c, leaves becomes damaged = stomata openings will be closed

⋗ Optimum T0 for stomata opening is at 240c and remains open up

to 300c
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⋗ Similarly, soil T0 = 24 - 250c, is very suitable
⋗ > 330c injurious for roots
⋗ Over and below the optimum level, T0. affects coffee
production
⋗ Night T0 < 70c, affects coffee growth
⋗ T0 0 to 30c, causes discoloration of leaves due to damage of the
chlorophyll
⋗ At -20c, death of outer tissue of stem
✑ Side effect of very high T0 (T0 > 250c )
 Decrease photosynthesis
 acceleration of transpiration, dehydration of tissue
 Malformed (misshaped) flowers (star flowers)
 Excess vegetative growth
 Extremely larger leaves
 Wide internodes space
53
 Too early bearing
 Over bearing
 Early exhaustion and die back (a condition in which a tree or shrub
begins to die from the tip of its leaves or roots backwards, owing to disease
or an unfavorable environment.), CLR
 Affects the color of the leaf
 Rain fall
 It is one of the limiting climatic factor
 Optimum rainfall = 1500 – 2000 mm with 2-4 months of dry period (<50mm)
 The dry spell is needed to allow buds, flowering, and new growth
 Sporadic(irregular) shower, induces anthesis - low yield
Bimodal rainfall distribution (south eastern region)
 Harare: bimodal (there are two rainy seasons)
 March to may-peak April
 July to September -peak August
 Sidamo:
 March to June-peak April
 September to October-peak September
54
Monomodal-only one rainy season (Southwest regions)
✄ Mid march to October
✄ Nov to March- dry spell
Heavy rain fall
☣ Flowering period - affect pollination
Moisture stress
☣During early fruit expansion, it causes heavy fruit shedding
☣During bean development, it reduces size of the beans
So, low RF areas need conservation techniques, such as
Terraces, and ridges, Mulch, Irrigation
 Humidity (amount of water vapor in the atmosphere or in a gas)
※ Requires medium to high RH

※ Tropical rainforest(80-90% RH) best for Robusta than

Arabica coffee (cool and dry season is best) 55
※ 50 - 70% RH is best = this is controlled by proper pruning and shade
regulation
 Wind
 Cause both mechanical and physiological damage

 High wind affect plant growth

 Wind dries the leaves too quickly (increase Water

requirement)

 Tree and Shade tree damage

 Dispersal of weeds & pests

 Slope
 The inclination of a land
 Optimum slope is 0 -15% for coffee production, it facilitates
drainage of water 56
 Aspect/feature
 The orientation of land
 The desirable aspect for coffee depends on the altitudes
 For cool, high and medium elevations:

 A warm south to south east aspect

 For hot lower altitudes:
 The cooler north to north west aspect
3.2 Altitude
 Arabica coffee is a highland coffee
 Grown between 500m (in Gambella) – 2500m (at Yeju)
 But 1000 - 2000m is very suitable
 Most productive farms are at 1500 - 1800m
 The lower limit for South west Ethiopia is 1000m
® Optimum is 1200 -2000m
® Above 2000m - leads to frost damage
® Below 1000 - expose to high temperature 57
3.3 Soil requirements
 There are a certain soils that are not usually selected for
coffee, these are:
 Strongly alkaline
 Very high percent of stand
 The quite heavy clays
 Soil with no humus, and the peat soils
 But the land with the following soil characteristics is
considered as suitable site
 Slightly acid (between 4.5 -5.5 pH)
 Good friable sandy loams or Certain not too sticky clays
 Good content of humus
 Natural, fairly rich content of N P,K, and available minor
elements
 Recent volcanic deposit
58
 Covered with broad- leaved vegetation
 Well drained
 Soil depth: not less than 1.5 m deep allow for prolific root
development
3.4. Shade requirement
 Used in most areas
 Important:
 To prevent temperature fluctuations and
 To provide protection from winds and drought
 However higher yields are obtained without shade
Benefits of shade includes:
Extends life of tree
Prevents over bearing
Reduce temperature of air and soil
Reduce hail
59
 Reduce evaporation and transpiration
 Organic mulch from leaves
 Protects organic matter of soil
 Suppress noxious weed growth
 Yield variation between year is much small
 Low yield under shade is associated with reduced
temperature and light intensity
Open sun
 Good effect of sunlight
 Ensure greater absorption of nutrient
 Coffee tree metabolism increased
 Increase sun light intensity
 Yield increase (but for short period of time)
 Yield variation between year is much small
 Need continues supply of nutrients
60
CHAPTER 4. COFFEE PROPAGATION
At the end of this section students will be able to:
 Describe and differentiate coffee propagation methods
4.1 Sexual Propagation of coffee
) The most common commercial method of propagation is by seed
) Preferably obtained from selected superior mother trees
) However, coffee can also be propagated asexually by:
† Cutting
† Grafting
† Budding – used to produce plants genetically identical with the
mother tree

) Nowadays, techniques for tissue culture or micro-

propagation have been developed which is used to
transfer from the field to laboratory
61
4.2 Asexual propagation of Coffee
 Cutting
 Single node cutting
 Half trimmed leaves (pair leaves)
 Hormone IBA(Indole-3-butyric acid) 1500-2500 ppm for
fast rooting capacity
 Robusta coffee 90% no needs hormone because easy to rooting
 Arabic coffee difficult to rooting so need hormone
 Wounding is possible methods for rooting of coffee
cutting on rooting surface area
 Grafting
 Is the art of connecting two pieces of living plant tissue together
 The only current grafting appears to be Indonesia
 Where Robusta selection is carried out on a nematode
resistant root stock for planting is areas badly infested with worms
62
 Liberica coffee is more preferable as a root stock for two
reasons:
 To adapt alkaline and poor soil area
 To resistant soil born disease
 Robusta and Arabica are used as scions
 Grafting process takes place at soldier or butter fly stage
of seedling
 Growing stage:
1st appears is hook stage
 2nd soldier stage 1-2 week
 3rd butter fly stage
 4th pair of two leaving stage
 Budding
 It’s similar to grafting except that the scion is reduced in
size to usually contain only one bud
 In contrast to grafting very little has been used for budding of coffee
tree 63
 This may be due to the weaker union formed by budding
than by grafting and budding being a more delicate
than by grafting

 Using bud from young upright growth (orthotropic shoots

or suckers) inserted in a T or inverted T cut just below
anode

Problems of Vegetative (Asexual) Propagation ????

※ Limited number of cuttings that one can get from

orthotropic shoots

※ Maximum number of cuttings that one can obtain from a

single coffee tree is 100
64
 Micro-Propagation? Define?

 Micropropagation or tissue culture: is the practice of rapidly

multiplying stock plant material to produce many progeny plants,
using modern plant tissue culture,

 used specifically to refer the application of tissue culture techniques

for the propagation of plants starting with very small plant parts
grown aseptically in a test tube or other container

Advantages

 Fast method of propagation

 Produce disease free plant

 Easy to transplanting

 Easy to store

65
CHAPTER 5. Nursery Establishment and Management
At the end of this section students will be able to:
 Identify criteria for nursery site selection
 Perform nursery site preparation and management

☑ Nursery- is a place where we raise seedlings in the max

possible care for the purpose of transplanting to field or
for sale??? How can you define?

Steps during nursery establishment??

1. Site Selection- factors/criteria's for nursery site selection:

 Slope (Flat or gentle), Not river flats and valley bottoms
 Soils texture (light or medium with pH 4.5 -5.5)
 Soil depth of at least 1m, to allow for prolific root development
66
 Free from old coffee and its debris
 Not subjected to strong wind
 Not suffering from soil born diseases and insect pests
 Close to dependable/reliable quality water
 Close to planting area (to reduce transportation cost and increase
survival rate)
2. Nursery site preparation-activities to be done during SP is/are:
 Site clearing
 Ploughing or digging during dry season taking care not to bring
subsoil
 Layout of the dimension of the beds (width, length, height and Path)
 Bed width-1 to 1.2 m- otherwise weeding, watering can be
difficult
 Bed length - 5 or 10 m, being determined by the availability of
land & accessibility for different activities
 Bed height -15 to 20cm

 Path between beds 40 to 60cm

67
 Flat or sunken beds are recommended for drier areas
 When seeds are to be directly sown on to the seed bed, 800 gm DAP
or equivalent manure or compost will be mixed with the top soil
3. Seed sources
Seeds- are collected from mother trees & the trees must be:
 High yielding & good in quality
 Not easily transmitted as affected by environmental conditions
 Heritability (degree of variation in a phenotypic trait in a population that is
due to genetic variation between individuals in that population) should be
very low
 Consistent yielding ability
 Large bean size (more endosperms, future food reserve for germination of
embryo)
 Good cup quality (e.g. flavour, acidity and body and cup cleanness)
 Vigorous vegetative growth
 Wider adaptability
 Resistant(offering resistance to something) to disease and insect pests
 Tolerant(a plant able to endure specified conditions or treatment) to
adverse environmental conditions
68
4. Seed Preparation? What are the activities to be done in SP??
The seeds from the selected mother trees are prepared as follows:
☢ Cherry can be picked when red ripe (If not it can not germinate and it may rot)

☢ Preferably hand-pulped it, instead of machine

☢ Seeds are dried under shade

☢ Immerse the seed in container containing water

☢ Floaters are skimmed off/scanned

☢ The heavy beans are taken by draining the water

☢ Abnormal seeds are removed &

☢ Seeds are stored in cool & dry condition (pea berry, triage,

elephant seed etc.)

-Pea berry(only one of the two seeds is fertilized, and the single seed develops)
- 69
☢ Sometimes, seeds are mixed with charcoal or wood ash (To increase
the duration of viability)
☢ The seeds in the store should be protected from
impairing/spoiling condition such as:
☑ Excessive drying out
☑ Fluctuating To
☑ Splitting or hardening of the parchment (papery substance that surrounds
the coffee bean, just like the endocarp (membrane-like layer) that surrounds many other
types of fruit seeds )

☢ There is no dormancy in coffee seeds

☢ Therefore, best results are obtained when seed are sown as soon as
they are dried
5. Preparing Containers and potting Soil Containers
There are different kinds of containers, such as:
 Polythene bags
 Pot
 Plastic sleeves

70
1. Polythene bags
⇒ Are most widely used containers

⇒ The size of the bags varies & it depends upon

☑The size of seedlings at which they are to be

transplanted

☑When time of transplanting is to be delayed larger size

poly bags can be used

⇒ The polythene bags should be open ended for drainage

⇒ Recommended size of polythene bags is:

⋙ Length= 22cm
⋙ Diameter = 16cm
⋙ Thickness = 6μ with a black color 71
Advantages of raising seedlings in polythene bags???
❈ No root disturbance - there is better take rate
❈ Easy for long distance transportation
❈ Should watered easily- Seedlings can be collected and watered easily
❈ Take half the time required to raise bare rooted seedlings
❈ Ensure nematode free planting materials
Disadvantages
 Cost of polythene bag
 Environmental pollution from discarded poly bags
 Requires more labor for pot filling and arranging
Potting the soil
 Forest soil- is the best medium for coffee seed germination
 In the absence of forest soil, the use of the mixture of the
following is recommended: 6 Parts top soil: 2 Parts
compost: 1part sand & 200 gm DAP is added per m3 of
soil or 6:2:1 & 200 gm
72
 Add the mixture step by step and press down the mixture
to avoid large air spaces
 The poly bags are filled step by step and
 arranged vertically on the nursery beds prepared
6. Seed Sowing
 Seed can be sown in-poly bags, seed bed or directly in the field
 Coffee seed that is used for planting is actually parchment
with the parchment hull & silver skins still in place

 It is not green bean from which hull and silver skin has been removed

 Time of seed sowing is normally 8 to 12 months a head of

the planting time

 1 to 2 seeds are sown in poly bags at a depth of 1cm ,

flat side down 73
 Seeds will germinate in 6 to 8 weeks time and may
continue for as long as 3 or 4 months
 If the two seeds germinate one of them will be pricked off
or removed with a pair of scissors
 When the seedlings are bare-rooted, the spacing should
be 20 x 20cm
7. Post-sowing cares
※ Watering-in the presence of mulch, irrigation at 4 days interval until
seed germination

※ A week interval, after germination up until 4 pairs of leaves

※ 1 to 2 weeks interval after 4 pair of leaves

※ Where there is no mulch or where the weather is dry,

twice a day for the 1st 2 weeks and then once per day,
when watering make sure the seed is not exposed
74
 Mulching
 3 to 5cm thick grass is spread on the seed beds (give extra
heat and retain soil moisture)
 Mulch is removed immediately after seed germination (6
to 8 weeks after seed sowing)
Shading
 It can be fixed or movable
 Fixed shades are made for a group of beds at 1.7m height
 Movable shade is erected very low, 80 cm height over
each bed

 50% shade is the most recommended although it can vary

between 25 and 75

 Other practices such as fertilization, protection and

cultivation should be properly executed 75
Hardening-off?
Training seedlings to adverse environmental
condition, like
⋙ Low moisture
⋙ High T0
⋙ High to strong sunshine
⋙ Reducing the shade level step by step
⋙ Remove shade before two months to transplanting
CHAPTER 6. Field Plantation of Coffee-----steps?
1. Site selection- for establishing coffee plant in the field,
1st you have to select site based on:
✎ Suitability of ecological conditions(T, RF, altitude, soil and aspect)
✎ Accessibility of the site to infrastructures (roads, market etc.)
✎ Local labour supply(harvesting time)
76
2. Site preparation
 In the beginning, the land is most probably covered with
trees, bushes and tall grass
 Some or all of these must be cut down with their roots &
removed from the soil
 Removing methods such as,
 By ring barking the tree selectively, one or more years
before felling (if we have time)because some of
indigenous trees can be used as shade or wind breaks
 Poisoning the tree with the chemicals arboricides (2,4,5
T and sodium arsenite)
 Remove all roots and stumps completely at a time
 It should be at least 6 months before planting is done

 However, for safety from root disease (Armillaria mellia)

clearing should start two years before the intended time of planting
77
 B/c it allows depletion of root starch which act as
substrate for the fungus
 If the land to be planted is old coffee land, the coffee
should be investigated
 If infected with root disease, it should not immediately be
replanted
 The roots of perennial grass should be removed, b/c it is
difficult to control after coffee planted (couch grass)

 Burning is not advisable in coffee production

 It burns humus which causes loss of fertility by volatilization
of N and S, but it increases K and P
 So, collect and remove from the field is quite good
 The site is then sub-divided into manageable blocks (2 to 4 ha)

 It is impossible to get ideal site; so, it is required to modify

78
 If not, accessible roads construction for transportation of:
☑ Berry, chemicals, workers, fertilizers & others
 If no ideal rain fall - irrigation and drainage channels layout
 If the site is exposed to strong wind, planting of temporary
shade & wind break trees
3. Planting Systems ( CPS Vs HDP)
- It is the density and the pattern of planting seedlings
Basically there are two types
A. Conventional (square, rectangular and hexagonal)-This is
an earlier planting of coffee trees
- Mostly made in straight rows with the tree at square
planting on flat lands
- Every tree is in a straight line in any direction
- It permits cross-cultivation by tractor mounted harrowers:

Spraying, Harvesting & Mulching

79
« Such kind of square planting with lines of trees following
trees expose for soil erosion as result, contour planting was
developed
« The typical conventional spacing for contour access of
Arabica coffee is usually planted at a spacing of about
3m X 2m - 2.75m
« On small holdings, no requirement for tractor access, Arabica
coffee is usually planted at a spacing of about 2.5m x 2.5m
Disadvantages of Conventional PS
« Only small proportion of available soil and air space
is utilized by the coffee
« Full production is not reached until the 3rd and 4th crop
B. High density planting (single row, double row, three row hedge etc.)
☢ conventional planting, allows less number of
trees per ha which is accounted to unproductive
80
☢ Therefore, to increase a number of trees in a ha, this method is more
important and also a component of yield increment
☢ The area of land a particular coffee tree makes use of it can be
computed by:
A/tree = a [b (n-1) +c]
n
☢ Where - A = Area per coffee tree
a = Distance between plants with in a row
b = Distance between rows of a group
c = Distance between hedges (adjacent rows group)
n = Number of rows per hedge

☢ Example- If a spacing b/n plants is 2m, b/n rows is 2m and inter-row

path is 3 and number of rows per hedge is 5, what will be the area of

a particular coffee tree/plant?

2[2(5-1)+3] = 4.4m2
81
4. Spacing
 Coffee responds variably to d/t spacing at d/t regions
 The spacing at which coffee is planted determined on the
basis of: ????
Growth nature of the species/variety
Within species there are difference in arrangement
Dwarf varieties-can be planted in closer spacing
than giant varieties
 Open varieties-requires wider spacing than compact varieties
Amount & distribution of rain-where sufficient and well
distributed annual rain fall close spacing is more
productive
 Pruning systems- the more density is for trees pruned on
single stem(objective is to encourage the primary branch to fruit first,
followed by the secondary and tertiary branch) than multiple stem
82
 Character & fertility/richness of soil
✎ Fertile soil-narrow spacing provided that other factors
are not limiting
 Mechanization of cultural & harvesting operations
 The full mechanized farm-sufficient space
 For passage of machine to a farm
 Prevalence of disease & pest
Development of disease and insect is favored by
humid & dark spaced which is created due to closer planting
To avoid the damage, relatively widely spaced
planting is preferred
 Slope of the land:
⇒ On steeply sloping –wider spacing

⇒ There is a need of more number of terraces

 Altitude of the area
83
 Cropping systems (inter-cropping)
Wider spacing - for intercropping with coffee
which is common especially in Hararge(with chat) &
Sidamo (enset) areas
 Financial consideration
 In order to get high yield during the first cropping
season, closer spacing can be used b/n planting
 Close spacing give high yield when the trees are small,
but the advantage reduces as trees mature or become old as
competition for water and nutrients become effective

 The interception of light become reduced b/c of mutual

shading created,
 Lower number of branches are productive and production is
restricted to the top of the tree exposed to light
 Tree handling and disease control become essential
 Increase in yield from close spacing is per ha not per plant which is
common only for 3-5 harvest (6-9 years bush)
 Shade /Open sun
 Narrow spacing for open sun and wider spacing for shaded
coffee
 Temporary shade 7 x 7m (Enset), fixed shade 20 x 20m
 As a result, there is no standard recommendation for coffee
spacing for each varieties at different location
 Optimum is determined based on experimental result at different
locations
Spacing recommended in Ethiopia is based on experimental result
both pruning system and growth habit of coffee
5. Lining (Staking)
 Once spacing has been decided either on flat or sloping land, it
should be marked out with a peg at each planting place
 Establishing where each coffee plant will be placed based on the
spacing determined
6. Holing
 Once the site clearing is finished, holes are dug 3 months ahead of
planting time
 keeping the top soil and sub soil separately &
 Left open up to one month before planting
 This operation is important for the soil and sides of the hole at depth
become weathered and more fertile
 water penetrate down and stand in the holes during showers of rain
 The size of the hole prepared depends on:
⇒The size of the seedlings, fertility and soil compactness;
wider hole is good for compacted soil
 On heavy soils, larger size may be an advantage b/c the root is
found in softened, aerated and weathered soil
 Research work has found differences on production of
coffee to the end of its life due to the difference in hole size
 The size of hole usually ranges from 30 x 30 x 30 cm to 90 x 90 x 90 cm
 Hole size of 60cm x 60 x 60cm is recommended for:
 Good root development

 Maximum field establishment

 Prolonged survival rate

 Stress tolerance

 A yield increase of 5 to 10% is reported in larger size

holes than in small ones 87

 The hole should not be less than 40cm x 40 cm x 40cm otherwise there
will be reduced in:
 Establishment
 Clean coffee yield
 Growth rate
 Yield components
 The hole is refilled by mixing the top soil with NPSB or 2-3 Kg manure
 Where insect are supposed to be attack some insecticides also
refilled in the hole
 The refilled materials is firmed down to avoid air spaces

 which affect sinking of the soil downward, then the growing

seedlings and root to dry out
 Planting is normally during the rainy season b/n April and end of
August

88
7. Field Planting
 Before transplanting, grading is done to discard seedlings
which are: immature, over grown, crooked/twisted, with
abnormal shoot or root, diseased and damaged
Points to be watched during coffee transplanting

 Use only graded seedlings

 Plant seedlings a few weeks after the 1st rain

 Planting depth should be similar with the nursery

 During planting, press the soil with the nursery

 During planting, press the soil down to settle

 Never transplant seedlings into holes too small for coffee
seedlings
89
CHAPTER 7. MAINTENANCES OF COFFEE PLANTATION
 After the coffee trees are planted, the work is not finished

 The growers still, has a lot of works to look their coffee trees
 A grower, who does not look after his plantation properly, cannot get
a good harvest of berries and will not earn much money: these are,
a. Watering
 The plant needs just enough water to settle them & to prevent wilting
b. Shading
 At planting time, the afternoon is often hot and sunny

 These conditions hasten rate of evapo- transpirations

 Which would lead to wilting of the young plantation

 For this reason and to protect the seedling from the light ray attack

 It is advisable to construct side or overhead shades out of banana

leaves or any locally available shading materials
90
 If the side shade is to be constructed particularly the western and the
eastern side must be shaded
 Having a north to south opening for ventilation
 In any case, the shade must not be allowed to rest on the plant or
impede their growth in any way
c. Mulching
 An immediate application of mulch round the plant seedling is far
more useful
Advantages
✎ It covers the soil from the sunshine

✎ beating action of heavy rain

✎ Inhibit weed's seed germination and suppresses growth

✎ Reduce the rate of evaporation

✎ Full use of the available soil water

✎ Control soil erosion on sloping land
✎ Shade the soil and reduce soil temperature
91
✎ Improve to structure of the soil

✎ Improves infiltration of rain water in to the soil profile

✎ Adds the plant nutrients into the soil, when decomposed

Disadvantages of mulching
 Introduction of a fire hazard in to coffee
 Extra cost for mulch material production
d. Weeding
, Weed plants-grow fast and over shades young coffee plants
, They compete for Moisture, Nutrient & spaces
, It gives shelter to pests and diseases to be multiplicated &
, Then reduce yield and quality of the product

, Therefore, careful weeding around the tree, slashing in the remainder

of the planting is imperative before they shed their seeds & the soil

dries out and spread over the soil

92
e. Replanting???? What does it mean?
 Replanting in coffee plantation may occur due to death of the
planted seedlings
 Is the technique of planting seedlings again to provide with new plants or to
subject to replantation,
 Replanting of the seedling may be due to:
Weak and immature seedlings

Planting carelessness or lack of maintenance operations after

transplanting such as lack of shade, Watering or attack by
insects

 Therefore, the manager must examine the field frequently &

 Deep his/her self-informed of the reason for the failures

 So that, they may take steps to staggered/replant the remainder of

his/her plants &
 Refill to the place of the killed seedlings by the reserved seedlings in
order to deep the density and production fair
93
f. Pest and disease control
 The person in charge of the plantation management, must supervise the
filed
 Survey for any insect pests and disease occurrence in the plantation

 Practical attention must be paid to the incidence of:

 Cut warms, green scale
 Trips
 Leaf rust and
 Root rots disease
 If any severe infestation is recorded, an appropriate control measure
must be applied
g. Coffee Pruning----what is coffee pruning?
✎ Pruning- is a thinning process, which concentrates the vigor of the
tree in those parts, which will produce most crops over a number of
seasons, and cuts away the other portions

✎ Is maintaining the balance between production and vegetative use 94

Coffee pruning

95
Reason for pruning - the main objectives ---why we prune coffee?

 Facilitate efficient pest and disease control

 facilitates air circulation

 Provide to robust, balanced framework

 Facilitate efficient harvesting - keeping trees to manageable height.

 Maintain bean size

 Rehabilitate old or unproductive plants

 Improve light penetration and encourages better flowering and fruit

setting

 Maintain a balance between crop and vegetative growth

 Facilitate spray penetration and economize chemical usage

 Achieve regular/uniform cropping

96
Types of Pruning
 On the basis of specific objectives proposed to achieve,
there are 3 types of pruning differentiate????
 Formative (preliminary) pruning (training stage)

 Maintenance /cropping period/ routine pruning

 Rehabilitation/Regenerative pruning
I. Formative pruning
 The objective of preliminary pruning is to create
 Robust/strong and
 Well balanced framework through the use of two techniques
⇒Single stem pruning technique
⇒Multiple stem pruning technique

A. Single stem technique- objective is to encourage the primary

branch to fruit first, followed by the secondary and tertiary branch

97
Methods of establishing by single stem ps:

1. Free growth-allow the coffee tree to grow free and

then prune it at a height of 1.8m to 2.0m

2. Capping-which is normally recommend for the varieties

where growth is faster,
And removing the apical buds at three different stages:
- Knee-height- at 70cm cut back to 50 cm (9 - 12 months
after planting)

- Waist/wogeb-height - as one of the suckers reach 130

cm, it is cut back to 110cm
- Shoulder - height - When one of the suckers is allowed to
grow for 2 years & it reaches 180cm and cut the base to
1.7m(170cm) 98
Merits of SP:
 manages height of tree for spraying and harvesting
 It is fairly easy to establish
 The growth of the trees is fairly uniform
 Facilitates spray penetration, thus enhance disease and
pest control
 Plants are vigorous, especially those established by capping
 Plants are not prone/liable for damage by wind and rain
Demerits
 Establishment of the system requires skilled workers

 In the early years, yields are lower than trees trained by

multiple stem system

 It is too costly, as it is laborers and skill demanding

 In wet areas, the tree may damaged by stem diseases

99
B. Multiple stem system-to have a number of up-right stems
of equal size & allowed to grow with out being capped as in
the single stem system
Methods of establishing
1. Capping
 This is simplest and conventional method,
 Consists of pruning back the young coffee tree at a
height of 70cm to 55cm from the ground above a pair of
primaries retaining some of the basal shoots

 The suckers w/c come out are then selected (2 or 3) &

allowed to grow as the main stems
 The branches bellow the cut are retained to provide an
early crop
100
101
2. Agobiado/bending system???

 The system consists of bending the stems of the young

coffee trees in an arc (40 to 45) by pegging them down
to the ground for approximately 12 to 18 months
 It is usually carried out on the plantation at the beginning of the rainy

season when the plants are growing vigorously

 It is useful where it is difficult to get suckers to develop

 But it delays cropping by at least one season compared

with capped multiple stem

 It is a system used where poor quality seedlings that are tall, old,
thin and whippy are planted out, such as the self-sown

seedlings produced under the coffee trees 102

3. Candelabra
⇔ This system is where the original stem is capped and
recapped and after each capping two suckers are allowed
to develop in to up-right stems until about eight are formed
⇔ Train the main leader in the form of a lyre or double lyre &
is easily achieved by single or double pollarding
Merits
 Maintenance pruning is simple and quicker than on the
single stem system

 Yields are higher in the early years (10% higher for the 1st
ten years )
 Less expensive

103
 Demerits
 problem of trees for damages by wind, rain and careless picking of the fruits
 Not recommended for shade grown coffee
 As the trees grow, they become difficult for picking and spraying
II. Maintenance pruning-is a routine pruning operation carried out via
the entire production system?
✎ It’s essential for both single & multiple stem pruned coffee trees
✎ However, routine pruning is simpler& quicker in the end
Importance???
 It opens the plant for more light penetration, hence reducing
incidence of disease and pests like Antestia bug, which prefers a
bushy plant
 It facilitates better photosynthesis for formation of big berries of high
quality
 Enhance selective picking of only the red ripe cherries,
which are easily processed an d result in high quality coffee
 Enables efficient and effective use of chemicals in disease
control resulting in to high quality coffee 104
What is pruned-off the coffee tree?
 All dead wood and broken branches are cutout
 All young suckers on the main stem are removed
 All crossed & badly placed branches are removed
 All weaker & smaller laterals are thinned out
 All dropping & thin, whippy/bended growths are cut back
 All primary branches that are less 0.20m to 0.25m from the
ground are removed
 Every year after harvesting before the beginning of the
rain, routine /maintenance pruning will be practiced
 Space the primary branch at least 0.12 to 0.15 m
 Provide a tree about the height of a slightly wider at the
base than at the top, open in the center to let light& air
 Hence, the ideal pyramidal shaped tree in contrast to
umbrella shaped tree in a tree not pruned properly
105
When is the right time for maintenance pruning?
 After the harvest has been gathered in, it is time to start pruning
III. Rehabilitation (Regeneration) Pruning
- Is the technique of re-establishement of the coffee plantation
 In the wild state, the coffee plant is reported to stay for more than 100
years, however, its productive life is 40 years

 This is not the case in commercial coffee farms, For example, under
our condition rejuvenation is done after 10- 12 years
The time of rehabilitation is depend on:
 The growth environment(Tem., RH, RF. etc.)
 The cultural practices followed (eg. Fertilization, Pruning method etc.)
 Diseases and pests
 Apart from age, coffee trees may show a decline in productivity due to:
 Disease
 Frost
 Drought
 The problem can be alleviated through Stumping, Topping & Agobiado
106
1. Stumping
 When trees have developed an "Umbrella" habit
 The main stems are cut-off at 30-40cm from the ground
 at an angle of 45° with a clean-cut, sloping out wards
 2-3 new shoots which are well spaced must be selected
when they have reached a height of 0.25 - 0.30 m
 Then, the rain water will run off easily, otherwise the main
stem may rot
 Stumping must be carried out immediately following
harvesting
 The yield of regenerated plantations will depend on the
ages of the coffee trees
 The best results are obtained with in 8-15 year old shrubs
 As the rain starts, manure and fertilizer need to be applied
25cm away from the tree in 15cm band about 40cm
radius of the stump
107
2. Topping
 Is mostly applied on single or multiple stemmed method when
coffee trees damaged by die-back, frost, drought etc.
 Where only the above branches are dead or unproductive while
the lower branches are living productive
 Trees are cut/ sawn off at the point of the damage
 Unlike stumping, this method provides some yield from the lower
productive branches
 Below the cut, suckers will develop and the grower should
remove the excess leaving only one or two to grow
3. Agobiado
 As the tree gets older, they will be bent carefully to encourage
new sucker development
 As the new suckers develop, 3 or 4 are selected and left to grow
 It allows continuous harvest from the coffee tree
108
Which pruning method to be choose?

 One can not generalize pruning recommendation to all

coffee producing locations b/c pruning is affected by a

number of factors

 Therefore, the best methods of pruning is one , which is selected

taking in to account: ?????

 The climate and soil condition

 Prevalence of disease and pest

 The skill of the workers
 Cropping systems
 The presence of shade 109
CHAPTER 8. COFFEE PROTECTION
At the end of this section students will be able to:
 Identify major pests and diseases of Coffee,
 Coffee suffers from a number of different types of:
Diseases, Insects, Nematodes and Weeds,
 Severity of these constraints varies from region to regions and
from plantation to plantations,
8.1. Major diseases and their control
8.1.1. Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) (Colletotrichum kahawae)
 CBD caused by Colletotrichum kahawae Waller & Bridge, is a particularly
devastating disease, which affects developing berries, leading to berry rot &
shed before the beans are formed inside,
 CBD- was one of the problems in the highland coffee
state farms(Limmu)
 CBD is one of the most serious diseases of coffee in Ethiopia
 In fact, it has been rated as the no one limiting factor in coffee
production in Ethiopia
 Was first observed in Kenya in 1922 and distributed to neighboring
country like Ethiopia 110
 CBD was observed as a damaging disease in Ethiopia in 1971
although it was present in the country some 15 years before the out
break
 The incidence of the disease was first observed
simultaneously in Wondo Genet, Woshi and Gera, Gore in
1971 but lately in Hararge in 1978
 The CBD infection is continuing to build up in all coffee
producing areas
 It is now estimated that, the national coffee production is
being reduced by more than 30%
 Early loss because of the disease was very high (20-80%)
 But today, since varieties have been developed the loss is
reduced

 Problems are severe where the altitude is greater than

1900 masl, it needs cool and wet area 112
 What does CBD affect?
 It affects flowers, green and ripe berries and sometimes leaves
 Trees are not killed but crop losses can be 80% or more
 Although the green berry stage is the most susceptible
stage, the pathogen also attacks the coffee berries
during all the stages from pinhead to ripe stage
 Flower buds are also affected by the fungus
 Of the plant parts, the fruit is the most appropriate host
Symptoms
Green berry?????
✎ Black brown lesions, after which the berry rot and falls with
mummified berry (dead body)

✎ Berry shrink when touched with finger

✎ Reliable diagnosis stage for the disease

113
Ripe berry
 Brown sunken lesions with minute black dotes
 Attack does not reach pericarp as a result, beans are not mummified
(mature and hard)
 Black dots are known as brown blight berries(anthracnose)
 This result in sticking of the parchment on the beans
,pulping is difficult
 It also discolors the beans so it results poor quality of beans
Leaves
 Brown spot or lesions, not common except occasional/irregular at
nursery
Factors that contribute to increased incidence of CBD
1. Successive crop overlap
 Infected berries remain on the tree in previous season act
as 1 inoculums or source for subsequent crops
 Inoculums- are active plant parts that carry pathogens or fungus
 This is common in tropics 114
2. Wet conditions and rainfall
 Favors spore(agents of asexual reproduction of cell & produced by fungus,
bacteria, algae, etc) production and dispersal
 Production and dispersal is depend on the presence of film of water
on plants
 Inoculums spread with droplet of water
 So, main dispersal mechanism is by rain splash and dispersal by wind
is minimum
Factors that modifies the microclimates
 Close spacing and shading enhance film of water
Control methods- Chemicals, such as Copper fungicides- (widely
used chemicals), Daconil (chlorothalonil)- It’s effective with a rate of
4.4 kg/ha, applied 6-7 times being 6 weeks after flowering until fruit
expansion stage
Application is at 4 weeks interval
- Should be applied during dry conditions to avoid washing away
of chemicals
115
Cultural practices
✎ Sanitation(collection & burning of mummies)
✎ Adequate spacing and pruning
✎ Induction/stimulation of early flowering by application of
irrigation(susceptible stage escaped before rain season comes
Use of resistant Cultivars
8.1. 2. Leaf rust (Hemileia Vastatrix)
 First observed in 1869 Ceylon(Sir Lanka)
 Earliest plant disease studied scientifically (longest one)
 Destroyed coffee plantation in Sir Lanka (1880) & replaced by Tea
plantation
 Next to CBD, it was one of the problems in low land coffee state
farms( Bebeka and Teppi)
 CLR is present in all coffee growing regions of Ethiopia
 It is the most serious leaf disease of coffee particularly in low altitudes farms
 Berries are not directly affected & trees are rarely killed
 The main damage results from premature leaf fall, which may reduce fruit
yield
116
 Reduces photosynthesis & results low supply of carbohydrate to
developing crops & vegetative growth

 Compact varieties shed their leaves easily when they are attacked by
the pathogen

 Open varieties, eg. 744 & 7440, have the ability of retaining their
leaves at the level of moderate attack

 Spores of the fungus are spread by wind, rain & also persons &
machines moving in the plantations

 Infection process needs rains, so that, it occurs in wet season

 Germination process of spores always occurs in the presence of water

 Because of this, spread of such disease is associated with rainy season

 In Ethiopia, b/c of long incubation period (2-6 wks) maximum
epidemics occur at the end of cropping seasons, for example:
 In low land, it occurs in August to December
 Middle to highland areas, it occurs from October to December 118
Symptoms
 The fungus produce orange powder spots on the undersides of the
leaves
 Diseased leaves falls prematurely and
 The next season for vegetative growth is therefore reduced ,
restricting the crop potential for the following years
 Cool weather conditions prevent serious epidemic of CLR
 coffee planted at high altitude have low rust incidence
Control methods
Biological
 Use of coffee rust hyper parasite-Verticillium hemileia-beneficial
fungus which feed on the rust causing agents
 Where this fungus exists the incidence is reduced
Chemicals
 Use of copper fungicides- applied during onset of rain & repeated 2-5
times at interval of 4-6 weeks
 Initial effect, it increases leaf retention( for 2-3 months)
 This retention reduces or removes certain microorganism, b/c
119
 Micro organism increases endogenous ethylene that increase early
defoliations(premature defoliation)
 Incomplete spray of fungicides reduces yield in susceptible varieties
as it aggravated the incidence of CBD and CLR
 Partial spray used for variety screening as yield increase in the case
of resistant varieties
Cultural practices
 Remove attacked trees from the farm or infected leaves from the
trees
Resistant cultivars
8.1.3. Gibberella disease (Gibberella xylariodes)
→ Also called coffee wilt disease
 Coffee wilt disease (tracheomycosis) is caused by fusariun spp or Gibberella
xylariodes
 It is systemic disease & affects the root & stem & gradually kills the whole tree
 The pathogen penetrates and infects the bark or rootlets of a tree
wounded by tools during slashing, capping, digging etc... operations.
 Spore enters vascular bundle through wounds
 Wounding during cultural practices are main causes
 It also attacks suckers after stumping since it is a vascular disease 120
 Symptoms

 Under the barks of stems blackish streaks/strips

 Young leaves turned to yellow and followed by drying

 Affect vascular system(transportation)

 Wilting of the plant at the end

Control methods
 Avoiding slashing with knife near the coffee stems

 Minimizing root injury during soil loosening or when removing grass weeds

 Use resistant lines or variants

 Uprooting dead trees and burns them & treat the holes in copper
fungicides & leaving the holes unplanted for a year

 Disinfecting the pruning tools with alcohol with fire during pruning
activities
122
8.1.4. Armillaria disease
 Armillaria root rot(Armillaria mellea) is a disease of wide range of coffee &
tea plants in the wet & humid zones, mostly in the forest coffee zones
 It is a sugar depleting disease, w/c kills trees by its depleting
effect over along period
 Its prevalence is high in farms in near old forest and in newly opened areas
 Usually transferring from the roots of former forest or shade tree
Symptoms
 Wilting and death of leaves and subsequent death of the tree
 White mycelia strand are found where the plant are killed
Control methods
 Prepare plantation site a head of planting time some 2 years in
advance
 Remove attacked coffee roots & destroy by burning or burying
 Applying copper fungicides to the holes from which
infected coffee trees are uprooted but by avoiding
planting immediately after uprooting stumps
123
8.1.5. Branch die-back ??
✎ Progressive death of branches starting from tip and grow downwards

✎ Branch die-back attacks young coffee shoots, leaves, flowers &

pinhead stage berries

symptoms
There are two types of symptoms of die-back:
 1st case
 The disease starts from the tip of the twigs & kills the young part of
the branches & also leaves on these infected twigs (more common)

 The young trees overbear severely & particularly shortage of nutrient

because of poor soil

 Exposure of the plant to more light, poor fertility & maintenance of

the soil & poor adaptation of coffee to environment cause such
disease
124
 2st case
The disease starts with browning of the twigs or young
shoots a little bit (about 15 cm) below the tip
A lot of biotic factors are identified with such disease such
as bacterial blight, fusarium spp , Colletotirichum spp etc.
 More severe at the end of the short & long rainy seasons
than during the pick rainy seasons
 More serious at early stage of growth & under poor mgt
conditions like
 Weed infection
 Moisture depletion
 Low soil fertility
Control
 Minimized by applying recommend full package of mgt practices

125
8.2. Coffee Insect pests and Management
 Several insect pests attack the coffee plant
 840 Spp-of insect pests in worldwide that have been listed
 Only about 20-25 spp of insect pest concerned in Eth.
 Among the recorded spp, only 5 to 10 spp are most important to
coffee state farms
 Therefore, in most coffee growing regions of the country, except in some
localized areas, pests do not seem to be serious problems
✎ Pest which cause considerable damage both in highland & low land coffee
grown region are:
 Antestia bug (Antestiopuis intricate and A.facetoides)
 Blotch leaf miner
 White borer, trips
 Berry borer
 Pests of minor importance include
 Green and brown scales
 Leaf skeletonizer trips
 Stem borers, aphids
 Termites and others 126
1. Antestia bug???
 Number one insect pest in our country
 Common in too hot, un shaded & erratically rain fed regions
 Its primary host is arabica coffee
 Secondary host are all plants spp within the family Rubiaceae
 It causes loss by feeding (piercing and sucking)/attacking
practically on parts of a coffee tree including leaves, flowers, berries
& branches
 Its first preference is green immature full-sized berry(food for such pest)
 This insect is also a vector of two fungal spp: Nematospora
coryli & Nematospora possypi
 Hence damage by the insect is two way
Causes- blackening of flower buds,
 Fall of immature berries, which floats during washed coffee processing
 Rotting of the beans
 Causes Zebra stripping of beans
 Its direct feeding causes dried shoot tips
127
 Multiple branching as it feeds on apical buds
 Shortening of the internodes of terminal growth
 The direct feeding of such insects is little effect as compared to its
effect as vector
 Peak infestation in these region is during June and July
 Common in Wollega, Tepi, Sidamo (Antestiopuis intricate) &
Hararge(A.facetoides)
 There are two species of such insect in our country:
 Antestiopuis intricate-common in coffee growing area except Hararge
 Antestiopuis facetoides- found in Hararge
Control methods of Antestia bug ????
Pruning- Antestia bug causes damage when the foliage is very dense
- So, opening the center of coffee bushes by pruning will reduce the
Antestia bug incidence

Shade regulation- by limiting shade tree & allowing light to come into
coffee bushes reduces the incidence of Antestia bug
Hand picking- at a small holding level, egg mass can be collected &
destroyed by hand 128
Biological
 The top control methods in our country
 D/t study on population dynamics shown that three insects have been
identified to parasitize the egg of Antestia bug
 Egg parasitoids-control 45%
 Adult predators-control 5%
 IAR reported that 45 to 50% of the egg are destroyed by natural
enemies
Chemical (damage boundary)
 Threshold level for control by chemicals varies from country to country
 Example: 3 bugs/tree in Kenya and 6-7 bugs /tree in Ethiopia
 Chemicals such as Parathion 40 % ml & Methomyl can be used
8.3. Weeds and Weed Management practices
 One of the big and all year round agricultural activities in our coffee
production is weed mgt
 More than 50% and 70% of the maintenance cost for mature & young coffee
plantations in Ethiopia respectively is incurred from weed control
 Yield has also been the most sensitive indicator of weed
competition 129
 Yield loss due to competition can be as high as 65% if weeding is not
practiced at all
 Major problems of weeds in coffee:???????
 High cost of production
 Competition for nutrients and moisture
 Harbor disease and insects
 Create problems in some cultural practices(pruning, harvesting
 Create some damage to coffee during weeding so that wilting of
coffee occurs
 The common weed pest under farmers holding systems include
Perennial Weeds-major weeds of coffee:
 Digitaria schlarum-couch grass
 Contain underground rhizomes
 Produce seed for multiplication
 Rhizomes grow deep up to 2 m
 Common in most coffee growing area
 Cyprus spp
 Common in highland area
 Has underground tuber 130
 Cynodon dactylion- Bermuda grass
 Sida spp.

 broad leaves
 Common in Bebeka
Annual Weeds
✎ Agelantum connytoides
✎ Bidens Pilosa
✎ Galinsoga parviflora
Control methods
Manual- Slashing
 Common in south western part of the country where annual and
biennial weeds are common

 Reduce the growth of tall annual weeds

 Not effective for perennial weeds

 Remove apical dominance & encourage the dev’t of lateral roots

 Cause for some disease as create wounding on coffee 131

Hoeing
 Kill by breaking contact between root and soil
 is best when the weed are small in size
 If the weeds grow deep(10cm or more) it affects feeder roots of coffee
Mulching
 Stop the growth of weeds by restricting amount of sunlight
 Germinated weeds dried out because of lack of photosynthesis
 Not effective for perennial weeds as they have reserve foods
underground. Ex. couch grass
Chemical
Success depends on correct stage of application
Glyphosate- couch grass (perennial weeds)
 Non selective & systematic & foliage acting herbicides
 Its action started after 4 to 5 days & death observed in 10-14 days
 Kill coffee plant & expensive
 Coffee should be covered by plastic & directed to weed
 Fluazitop-butyl- grass weed-selective herbicides
 Paraquat-contact herbicide-non selective-broad leaves 132
Mechanical
 Mechanical Chain-saw slasher
 Brush cutter cultivator
Cover crops

 Suppress the growth of grass weeds

 Effective method of controlling perennial weeds

 Similar to mulch but involve establishment of live cover crops

Advantage of Cover crops over mulching
 Fix nitrogen as most of them are leguminous crops
 Does not involve transportation of bulk materials
 Established in high rainfall area unlike mulch (low rain fall area)

 Not common except at research center

133
CHAPTER 10. HARVESTING OF COFFEE
At the end of this section students will be able to:
 Discuss harvesting and post-harvest handling of coffee
10.1. Harvesting
 Technically termed as picking
 Number one labor intensive work in coffee production
 Consist 50% of total cost of production
 Coffee come into bearing 3 to 4 years after planting
 Full bearing is attained at 6 to 8 years
 Fruit mature 7 to 9 months after flowering for arabica coffee, 8-11 for
Robusta coffee and 12 month for Liberia coffee
 Harvesting takes 4 to 5 months is 80 % ripening in the middle of 2 months
 Continuous process
 Harvesting represents a major activity in the farm
 Good quality coffee is obtained from fully ripe cherries
 In under ripe cherry the mucilage is not well developed so the skin
clings to seeds
 Harvesting of immature berry reduce yield 134
 In over ripe berry, fermentation has already started & lubrication is
deteriorated & the resultant beans are dull in colour and silver skin is
attached
 Over ripe berries produce woody, fruits or even yeasty flavor
 Therefore green or ripe fruits should never be mixed with red ripe

135
10.2. Time for harvesting
 It takes a week or 10 days for the whole crop to reach full
color once; the green colour changes to yellow
Best quality coffee is produced by harvesting fruits:
⇔ Glossy red ripe all over
⇔ Firm but not hard
⇔ From which seeds can be squeezed out by pressure of finger and
thumb
 The berries which are red ripe if not picked in 2 weeks time, they
form into dark red or violet and such fruits are distinctly
raspy when pressed
10.3 Methods of harvesting???? Advantages & disad. of each method???
A. Selective hand picking
 Usually harvesting by hand
 Only pick red cherries will ensure best quality coffee
 Almost all Eth. coffee harvests by this method because there is no
labour problem 136
HAND PICKING METHOD

137
B. Indiscriminate stripping
 Harvest all mature fruit together
 Milking off under ripe, mature and overripe berries together
 Usually common practices in areas with labour problem
 It is poor quality coffee because of mixing of fruit of different ripe stage
 In terms of efficiency, this one is easy & cheapest method of harvesting
 In terms of tree welfare, damage potential buds from the leaves axial
 Commonly used in Brazil because of harvesting of large area of land
 Because of this 80 to 90% Brazilian coffee is dry processed coffee
C. Mechanical Harvesting
✎ Used for dwarf type cultivars
✎ Having uniform flowering and ripening
✎ This involves the use of machines in harvesting of coffee not
popularized because of its problems
✎ Problem is it damages and uproots the tree = Light soils
D. Harvesting of dried fruit from tree and the ground
 Quality is very poor
 Use for dry coffee processing 138
10.4. Care during harvesting
 Build up labour force a head of time

 Pick fruit individually, not in cluster

 This is advantage for wet processing for:

Easily pulping

Damage of pulping machine is reduced

Stalks should remain on the tree

To prevent branch peeled off

During pulping, enter to pulping tank
Coffee leaves should not be knocked and mixed to
avoid clogging of blocked of pulper 139
 Never mix stones and other hard objects

 Do not damage trees (do not strip the potential bud to

keep the next product)
 Use ladder in order to avoid breaking of branches, buds
& leaves
 Where trees are fall bending & climbing should no never
be tried
 Do not skim fruits from trees heaving laden (weighted)
branches
 Take weight of the harvested cherries from the farm & to
the pulpery
 Coffee cherries for wet processing should be delivered to
the processing industry the day thing are harvested
 Berry should not stay, so it should be taken to processing
place within 24 hrs.
140
CHAPTER 11. Coffee processing
At the end of this section students will be able to:
 Explain objectives of coffee processing
 Describe different processing methods
 Explain steps in coffee processing
 Discuss storage, transportation and marketing
11.1. Objective of processing?????
✎ The aim of producer is, to sell his produce for best price
he/she can obtain

✎ For processing, the central point is the coffee fruits with

different layers
✎ Major activity in coffee production is from quality point of view
✎ Good cherries from the farm may be spoilt if the series of
distinct stages are not properly managed
141
✎ Bad processing can reduce the income from a
potentially high quality crop

✎ The converse is not true

✎ The efficiency of the processing phase of coffee

production is largely controllable by the grower

✎ During processing the crop is in a very vulnerable to

damage & receptive to all sorts of taints

✎ Care and cleanliness must therefore be the rules if a high

class product is to be obtained
11.2. Method of processing (merits & demerits of the 2 methods)??
 There are basically two types of coffee processing(wet
and dry method Semi-wash processing)
142
143
144
11.2.1. Dry processing??????
 This is the oldest, simplest and cheapest method
 It produces ‘natural’ coffee
 The process used for more than 80% of Brazil, Ethiopia and Yemen
Arabica and for almost all Robusta coffees in the world
 It is employed for all Robusta coffee as:
 Quality is not improved appreciably by hard
 Difficult to pulp & prone to mechanical damage
 Has generally inferior yellowish brown color (instead of bluish green),
flavor & fragrance
 It is impossible to produce a 1st top class (1 & 2) by dry method,
although the procedure is far simple
 This method of processing is employed:
✎ For coffee collected dry from the ground or on the tree
✎ Most often the process is used when nonselective harvesting is
employed

✎ When it is more difficult to process to hull out the beans from seed
coats and the leathery dried fruit skins 145
✎ Could not be processed through wet processing for1 or more reasons
✎ Cherry is dried on the tree or picked & dried whole with the 2 beans
within the fruit on cement floor or raised mesh wire beds
Procedures
The harvested berries are sorted & cleaned to separate:
⇔ The unripe, overripe & damaged berries & to remove dirt, soil, twigs &
leaves
⇔ The harvested berries are then spread out, in the sun on large
concrete or brick patios or on matting
⇔ They are raked regularly to avoid fermentation & to expose them
evenly to the sun’s rays
⇔ If it rains , the berries are covered for protection
⇔ Drying operation is the most important stage of the process
⇔ Over dried beans will become brittle & produce too many broken
beans during hulling
⇔ Under dried beans will be too moist & prone to rapid deterioration
caused by fungi & bacteria
⇔ 80 % of their coffee in this particular method of processing 146
147
11.2.2. Wet processing???
 It produces the so called ‘washed‘ or ‘mild’ coffees & is
adopted in Mexico, Colombia, Kenya & Tanzania
 This involves more capital outlay , more water & more care than
the dry method
 Preserve the intrinsic qualities of the bean better, producing a
green coffee which is homogenous & has few defective beans
 Regarded as being of better quality & command high prices
 The wet method removes the pulp from the bean within 12-24 hours
of harvesting instead of allowing the berries to dry,
Factors during establishment of factories (machine)
1. Location of the factory
 It is called wet processing because most of the
processing stages requires water
 Carried out in the presence of clean water
 The sitting of pulpier is of necessity near river or stream
 Can provide a good supply water at picking time 148
 Lower part of the plantation so that the transport of the heavy cherry
is downhill
 The coffee is moving through each stage of the process by gravity
flow & is being carried by water

Figure. Simplified diagram of semi and full washing processes

149
150
2. Selective cherry picking
⇒ Coffee picking should be done selectively by picking only the red
cherries
⇒ The picked coffee must be delivered to the factory on the same day
to avoid fermentation before pulping

151
3. Cherry sorting
 It is basically a cleaning process
 Eliminate plant debris such as leaves, twinges, diseased, insects
damaged and dry berries as well as foreign particles included during
harvesting
 Separate the ripe & under ripe cherries as well as those
that have dried out on the bush or the ground
 Under and over ripe cherry should not pulped with fully ripe cherry
 Soil contamination should be avoided otherwise the quality will be
reduced
 This is often done manually by spreading the harvested
coffee cherry on a plastic sheet
4. Adding cherry to hoper
 A suitably designed receptacle where coffee cherry is placed before
pulping takes place
 There are two types of feed tank
 Each of which works on different principles
 These are the siphon tank and the dry feed tank 152
Siphon tank
 Requires an abundant supply of water
 Cherry is loaded in to the tank & water is then allowed to flow in
 When the water level in tank reaches a level higher than the bottom
of the cherry outlet, a flow is set up in the siphon pipe
 When this flow become fast enough, cherry is carried out up the pipe
& then in to the cherry channel
 Rate of feed is adjusted by alteration of the water level in the tank
 The water level is regulated by means of gate-valve or by the
provision of an adjustment spillway in the side of the tank
 Tank feeder the cherry passes in to a flatted cone shaped cement or
concrete tank of water
 The light cherry is floated off & treated separately
 The heavy cherry sinks to the bottom through an elongated or funnel
shaped outlet, down a channel in to the pulper
 At the bottom of the siphon is a trap to remove stones
Dry feed tank
 Used with an Aagaard pre-grader type of factory
 Usually built where only limited water is available 153
 The tank consist of a rectangular concrete box the bottom of which
slopes in wards to a central exit
 A rotary dry feeder can be installed at the exit point to ensure an
even flow of cherry in to the pulper
 The feeder consists of an adjustable sliding door to regulate the
cherry flow together with a horizontal feed paddle
 A stone trap is built in to the feeder
 Its economy of water to siphon tank is its advantage
5. Pulping
 Fruit composed of different layers with different proportions:
 Pulp (39%)
 Mucilage(17%)
 Parchment and skin (7%)
 Beans (37%)
 The mechanical removal of the red outer skin (epicarp)
 The pulping machine should be adjusted
 To run a test run with a limited quantity of cherry
 Do readjustment of the pulper if necessary
154
 Proper machine adjustment ensures that there is no berry damage or
passage of many unpulped cherries
 Squeeze out the cherry between fixed and moving surface
 The flesh & skin of the fruit are left on one side & the beans enclosed
in their parchment covering on the other hand
 Carried out because of the presence of the mucilage layer
between the pulp and parchment
 Water carries the cherry to the pulper and facilitated the squeezing
and separation of the product and byproduct
 Done by either the drum or disc pulper which may be
powered or manually operated
Drum pulpers

 Called cylinder or breast pulpers

 Consist of a rotary, metal cylinder coated with a thin,

copper lining having a raised surface known as buttons or bulbs

 have adjustment plate (breast) on one side of the equipment

156
 Best suited to small volumes of cherries
 Made in such a wide range of sizes
 No difficulty in selecting a machine to process any crop in the range
of ½ tone to 10 tones parchment coffee per year
 Small drum pulpers are mostly hand operated machine and
has only one adjustment
 Larger sizes are usually power driven & have two
independently adjustable factors
 Difficult to adjust & cause high percentage of bean damage up
to 5 %
 An even distribution over the drum is desirable
 A chain driven feed roller is sometimes mounted at an
adjustable height
 The drum, which has a roughened surface carries the cherry in to the
breast
 The pressure exerted by the narrowing clearance squeezes
the beans out of the pulp 157
Disc pulpers
 Rather than the cherries being squeezed between a breast plate & a
drum, a disc with a roughened surface is used
 They consist of one or more vertical discs fitted to a horizontal
rotating shaft
 Currently widely used for pulping of large quantities of cherries in
power driven pulping factory
 Has a reasonable range of adjustment for different size of cherry
 Pulping is facilitated by a flow of water
 The cherry in the hopper is steadily supplied in to the passages
(cherry channel) which divided & distribute the flow of cherry more or
less equally and direct to the respective revolving pulper discs

158
 The rotating disc carries the cherry in to the breast channel which is
made up of the plough & the knife
 most popular & much easier to adjust, & causes less damage (less
than 1%) compared to drum pulpers
 Very efficient that the single disk can pulp one tone in an hour thus a
pulper with three discs can pulp 3 tones per hour
The re-passer disk
⇒ To complete the pulping of un-pulped & partly pulped beans which is
due to their size, have not been dealt within the main pulper
⇒ no difference in operation from the main pulper
⇒ its capacity is smaller
⇒ often mounted on short legs, so that, its height fits in with the principle
gravity conveyance fundamental to an efficient factory
⇒ The re-passer may be a smaller or medium sized drum pulper, or a
single or double disc machine
⇒ The disc pulper when used as a re-passer has
⇒ the advantage that it can be adjusted to a different setting on either
side of the disc
⇒ it can then be used to deal with more than one size grade of cherry
160
6. Pre-fermentation washing and grading
 is not universal, but it is considered as an important operation to get
consistently good quality coffee
 The rate of mucilage breakdown or fermentation would proceed
quicker if no washing or grading in water were done
 Pre-fermentation washing operation are required to remove:
✎ a certain amount of pulp, much of it being in the form of small
fragments
✎ pieces of leaves, stalks & in some season, fruit fly larvae
 All such foreign matter increase the risk of taint during the
fermentation of the coffee
 Pre-grading is done with the help of water based on the density and
size of berries
 The grading here is carried out in order to separate normal beans
from light and floats
 Grading before fermentation is done for:
separate lights and floats coffee beans
Floats may pick up fluid during fermentation, & more
difficult to separate from sound coffee by gravity methods
161
 Light beans take less time to ferment than sound beans & chemical
changes may result
 Pre-grading also removes the pulp, which would cause taint if
fermented with the beans
Pre-washing channel
 Light & empty beans can be removed by putting the pulped coffee
in fermenting tank
 A supply of running water is provided to carry the crop along the
channel
 The densest beans falling to the bottom of the channel
first & the light beans, Chips of pulp & vegetative matter being
floated to the top where they can be removed
The Aagaard pre-grader/Oscillating sieve
 Freshly pulped parchment is graded on the basis of
weight & size by an oscillating sieve & water at constant
flow in Aagaard per-grader
 invented by a Norwegian in Kenya, is designed to replace
the post pulping sieve & the pre-fermentation washing channel
162
 It consists of a shaking sieve fitted in a tank over the
surface of which there is a constant flow of water
 The heaviest beans sink first & pass through the holes in
the shaking sieve & are fed in to a fermentation tank

 The lighter beans are carried further before they sink &
pass through the sieve

 Heavy un-pulped & partly pulped cherry can not pass

through the sieve
 Carried to a small cavity pulper (re-passer) to complete
the pulping
 Less water is required than with the pre-washing channel
 The decomposition of the mucilage is quicker than when
a pre-washing channel is used
163
7. Fermentation????
 The mucilage is part of the mesocarp which stays attached to
the parchment after pulping
 Is insoluble in water & clings to parchments too strongly to be
removed by simple washing
 Freshly pulped coffee covered with mucilage on their
outside, which makes them slippery and sticky
 The mucilage is 1mm to 3mm thick & its chemical structure is complex
 Principally composed of pectines, reducing sugars, non reducing
sugars and fiber and wood ash (Table 2)

164
 The sugars are soluble in water but pectines are insoluble & strongly
adhere on the parchment surface
 Since it is sticky, it inhibits drying, attract dust, makes handling difficult
& a good substrate for spoilage microorganisms to thrive on
 Removed by fermentation followed by washing or by strong friction in
machines called mucilage removers
 Degrade or breakdown the thick mucilage layers in to simple non-
sticky substances that can easily be washed off with water
 Fermentation may be natural or accelerated by chemicals or
enzymes ???
 In natural fermentation separation is done by enzymes (pectinases &
pectase)
 Mechanical mucilage removers operate by rubbing parchment beans
against each other & against mobile or static part of the machines
 The hydrolysis and degrading of the pectin by enzymes is considered
to be the main reaction
 Except the degradation of mucilage, there is no other significant
change during fermentation
 Does not alter the quality of the resultant coffee if it is done
sufficiently & there is no delay 165
 Fermentation” is not appropriate in the case of coffee as no
biochemical reaction takes place inside the coffee beans
 It would be more correct to refer to mucilage removal by
means of a biochemical reaction or hydrolysis
 Improve the appearance of the finished green beans
 In case of Cocoa fermentation is done to develop flavor
 The time the pulped coffee spends in fermentation tanks depends on:
⇒The species or variety of coffee
⇒Temperature
⇒The stage of ripeness of the cherries
⇒ pH
⇒ Enzymes concentration
⇒Amount of mucilage
 Take from 6 hours in a warm area to as long as 72 hours in cooler
areas
 Fermentation period need be adjusted in accordance
with climate conditions
 When the altitude is low, the fermentation time is short 166
Table 3. Fermentation characteristics of some released CBD resistant
coffee cultivars

167
7.1. Fermentation Tank
 Fermentation is done in concrete tanks
 The tank must kept clean & no beans left in from previous fermentation
 Time taken for fermentation period is affected by shade level used
 Coffee fermented under shade takes more time than the un-shaded one
Table: 4. The interaction effect of shade & variety on fermentation period (in
hrs.)

168
 Achieve uniform fermentation process & better quality coffee
 Positive correlation observed b/n fermentation period & cup quality
7.2. Factor that affect fermentation?????
Species or variety- d/t species do have varying layer of mucilage
-Thus, they require d/t length of time for fermentation to finish
Temperature
 The breakdown of mucilage increase rapidly with temperature until
the enzymes are inactivated by high temperature
 The optimum temperature for fermentation is between 30 and 35 ºc
 Fermentation is slow at low temperature
The stage of ripeness (Over r.>ripe>unripe cherries)
 Over ripe cherries ferment more rapidly, while unripe cherries requires longer
Enzyme concentration
 During pulping, a lot of enzymes are lost with the skin & more leached out
in the water
 The rate of fermentation increase with enzyme concentration
Water
 Recirculation of the processing water raises the enzymes & sugar
concentration 170
pH
 Freshly pulped coffee has a pH of 5.5 to 6
 The degradation of the mucilage is fairly rapid with this slight acidity
 The optimum pH ranges from 5.5 to 6
 The fermentation rate is slow in acid medium
7.3. Ways of accelerating fermentation??????
Water re-circulation-hastens the fermentation process
-The recirculation of processing water concentrates the enzymes & sugars
Dry fermentation
 When freshly pulped coffee is drained off its water & left in the
fermentation tank overnight there is less production of acid from
sugars & pH remains high for rapid fermentation
Commercial pectic enzyme
 Used only when there is a problem of weather or when there is serious
shortage of fermentation space/tank
 Coffee pec applied at 2.8 kg/ton & Ultrazymes-20 which is 30 times more
power full than coffee pec are synthetic enzymes that may complete

fermentation within 15 hours 171

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
✎ Two percent NaOH is also recommended to hasten the
fermentation of parchment coffee beans
7.4. How to determine whether fermentation is finished????
⇒ Determined by washing a handful of the parchment with clean
water
⇒ If the water is clean and feels gritty, fermentation is
complete, if it still feels limy fermentation is incomplete
⇒ Allow fermentation to continue a little longer as slight over-

fermentation is preferable to under-fermentation

⇒ Unlessa complete fermentation is carried out the
mucilage will not be removed & a second fermentation may
develop on the drying trays
⇒ In order to make the fermentation period as short as possible , the
coffee must be covered & kept as free as possible from
outside cold or damp & certainly covered against rain
172
7.5. Effect of faulty fermentation???????
⇒ Stopping fermentation at the right time is critical for coffee quality
⇒ Poor fermentation result in poor quality
⇒ Over fermentation would result in to ‘Onion flavor’ (off flavor)
Prolonged fermentation (over fermentation)????
⇒ Low initial sugar concentration in the medium
⇒ Use of too much water during pulping
⇒ Prolonged pre-washing prior to fermentation
If coffee is under fermented some of the sticky matter remains & produce
’green fruity’ flavor
under fermentation results???
 This makes drying slower
 Attract dust
 makes handling difficult and
 a good substrate for spoilage microorganisms
Mucilage remover/Demucilager
® As natural fermentation is water, labor and time consuming
® Mechanical mucilage remover started a long time ago
173
Aquapulpa/Ruoeng
 Developed in Indonesia
 Designed to remove the skin, the pulp & mucilage in one operation
 But latter used for mucilage removal

 Require more power & large supply of water

ELMU
⇔ Developed around 1980’s

⇔ Upward flow mucilage removers

⇔ Developed around 1990s

⇔ Require less power and water
⇔ Even-though they become far more efficient in terms of water &
power consumption, a heated debate is still taking place over the
actual impact on coffee quality
⇔ Several experiments associate natural fermentation with less
bitterness & more pronounced acidity & aroma in coffee
⇔ Can the quality improvement be obtained when mucilage is
removed mechanically ? 174
⇔ Recent research consistently replied "YES” by demonstrating that
mechanically de-mucilage coffees have the same organoleptic features
⇔ Costa Rica's CICAFE-ELMU

⇔ Colombia’s CENICAFE-Upward flow

⇔ Kenya coffee research foundation-upward flow

⇔ If no quality difference were found one is tempted to say machines

are superior to tanks in every day processing
⇔ Because machines do not requires the close supervisions that natural
fermentation does
⇔ Avoid weight loss & the risk of further quality deterioration during the
long fermentation process

⇔ However, Natural fermentation:

 Need close supervisions (adverse effect of poor control are well known)
 Practical processing problems (costly of fermentation tanks, high
labor requirement, batch rather than continuous processing, high
water requirement) 175
⇔ Weight loss caused by normal metabolism, respiration:
⇒It is widely accepted that pulped & washed coffee loses solids as
long as it remains moist & alive i.e. with moisture content above 12 %
⇒It increase such loss by delaying processing & rising the temperature
⇒Weight loss ranges from 0.5 to 6 %
8. Soaking
 A complete immersion of the parchment coffee under water
 The water used for soaking should be clean & free from substances
 Greatly improves the color of the coffee
 If there is no free drying space the parchment coffee is better stored
under water several days
9. Washing

 Parchment coffee is finally washed with clean water to remove any

adhering dirt materials
 Carried out in a concrete washing channel
 During washing the beans are stirred with wooden shovels to
remove all residues 176
 If not properly washed parchment can become tainted with brown center cuts
 The final cup quality will also be earthy, chemical, musty & foul in flavor
10. Drying
 Moisture is an important attribute & indicator of quality
 A high moisture content of the beans leads to physical & sensorial defects
 Above 12 % moisture, they will mold easily during storage
 Below 8%, they will loose flavor & increase the breakage of beans at hulling
 Influences the way coffee roasts and the loss of weight during
roasting
 Green coffee with low moisture content tend to roast faster than
those with high moisture content

 Process of reducing the moisture content of the beans

 The berries contain about 65 to 70 % of moisture
 Freshly pulped, fermented & washed coffee has moisture content of
about 55 %

 The washed parchment must be dried down to at least 12% moisture

177
 Drying methods

 Can be done either by sun or artificial dryers

 But a combination of the two is most important

 Use of natural sunshine is the cheapest way of drying coffee

 Large state farms & cooperatives use artificial drying especially in

area where the coffee is harvested in a wet or very humid season

 Although fuel costs are high for mechanical dryers, much less labor &
much less space are needed
 The quality of mechanically dried coffee is constant irrespective of
weather conditions
 The dry temperature should not exceed 38 0C at one time but in the
case of sun drying conditions can never be consistent
 When coffee takes 7-10 days to dry on patio it will lose weight due to
metabolism and respiration
 When coffee is mechanically dried in 40 hr. the process of weight loss
is interrupted much earlier but dryers are expensive
178
 Drying parchment of almost the same type , size & density is more uniform
 Flat ground surface usually made of concrete or asphalt or on raised
trays (drying rakes)
 It protects from contamination from the ground
 Aeration from above & below helps to enhance the drying process
but requires more labor

179
 Sun drying of coffee in patios takes place 7 to 15 days for parchment
& from 12 to 21 days for cherries
 The thickness of the layer (drying depths) & covering periods of beans
on drying area also affects drying time and average cup quality of
coffee
Table: 5 Effect of covering period and drying depth on drying time (days) of parchment

181
 Extended drying time was observed when drying depth & the
duration of covering period increased

 The highest drying depth (5 cm) gave the lowest value of cup quality,
while the other drying depths gave better cup quality

 Since it require larger area to dry parchment coffee at low depth, it is

better to use the higher depths

 The damage caused by overheating may take several forms:

parchment cracking, bending, bleaching, & undue widening of the
center cut

 Hence in tropical areas parchment is often covered during the

hottest hours of the day to avoid the problems

 Too quick rapid drying will cause the bean to lose color & cup loss flavor
 Too slow prolonged drying may cause sourness or onion flavor as the
water is not being evaporated fast enough & tends to develop a taint
 Slower rather than quicker drying is recommended 182
 Coffee must be continuously stirred in order to obtain even drying
 Over died beans will lose color & have little flavor
 Under dried beans will
 have dark & wettish appearance slightly transparent
 roast dull
 Have a thin body in the cup with an immature flavor
 is more susceptible to picking up taints & going bad in some way or
other than over dried coffee
 Ideally fully dry coffee
 have grayish blue color with not traces of blackness left
 the beans should be hard but not brittle & the silver skin should be loose
 There are different stage of coffee drying:
 Skin drying (55-45% mc)

 The removal of surface water & that between the parchment and the bean

 Dry as quickly as possible to avoid sourness such as onion flavor

 Remove discolored beans & broken parchment at this stage

 It must be done on wire mesh trays or tables

183
White stage (44-33% mc)
 Slow dry to avoid parchment cracking
 Sun dry takes 2-4 days
 Shade coffee hottest part of day 10:30 am to around 2:30/3:00 pm
 Heap coffee along center of bed & stir frequently if shading is difficult
to avoid “case hardening” or cracking
Soft black stage (32-22%mc)
 The final bean color is formed at this stage
 Coffee bean is translucent allowing some sun rays to pass
Medium black stage (21-16%mc)
® Coffee fairly hard & of dark color all over

® Hard black stage (15-11.5%mc)

® Bean hard & dark color all over

® Mechanical driers can be used as medium black stage drying
® Fully dry & conditioning (11-10.5mc)
® This is done in ventilated stores blowing dry air to even out moisture
content of the parchment at 11.5% mc
185
11. Storage
 The dried coffee should not come in contact with moisture
 Not stored in an environment where it can neither absorb nor loose
moisture as this would result in to spoilage of the bean
 Once the coffee is fully dry it should be kept in ventilated bins or on
wooden floors where it is consistently stirred
 The bags shall be made of closely woven jute or any other suitable
materials
 The material used will not alter the odor or compositions of coffee beans
 All bags used in packing shall be new, sound, clean & free from holes
 Each bags shall be filled leaving sufficient free space for each handling
 Coffee stores should be well ventilated, ideally with about 60 %
relative humidity at 20ºc
 Never store or keep chemicals in coffee store

 Coffee stored in bags must be raised on battens about 15 cm from

the ground and walls
 The bags should not be stacked too close to the roof where it can
become very hot 186
12. Hulling
 Removal of parchment from washed or the removal of all the skins from dry
cherry
 The parchment must be properly dried and free from foreign matter
 The huller need to be in good working order, set correctly & cleaned from all
previous inputs
 Some hulling machines perform both removing the parchment & silver
skin (polishing)
13. Coffee polishing
⇒ Polishing of beans is an optional process
⇒ The polishing process is used to remove the outer filament & any of the
parchment like husk that remains on the beans after hulling
⇒ While polishing beans are considered superior to unpolished ones, in reality
there is little difference between the two
15. Coffee grading
 Coffee is not an easy commodity for which to lay down hard & fast
rules for inspection
 Only years of training and experience can develop the required knowledge
(color, shape & make of the beans)
 Many different criteria are used to grade coffee in the various producing
areas of the world 188
 Some country use simple numeric scale to grade their coffee but
others do not ( physical & cup test)
 For example Ethiopian coffee graded as Grade 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
 Kenyans mostly depends on the size grading
 For example Kenya AA, Kenyan AB, Kenyan PB, Kenyan C etc.
 Most Latin American countries use altitudes as a means of quality grading
 For example, Costa Rican HG
 So it is difficult to compare different country’s grading systems
 There are two places in Ethiopia where coffee is officially graded
 The coffee grading system of Ethiopia:
Sampling
⇔ a sample drawer is expected to draw a representative sample
⇔ In terms of size , a sample drawer is subjected to draw 3kg of 10 tones of a
truck (average truck could carry at arrival)
Coding
✎ Is done to avoid biased judgment
✎ Then the samples are given a code (identity number, an alphabet or
combination of the two) number by administrators in the code room
✎ Evaluators are not aware who the producer is, & consequently, cannot show
any bias in their evaluation 189
✎ Wet processed coffee is graded based on the quality analysis in terms of
raw, roasted & liquor
✎ But most of the time two of them are used
✎ The visual inspection of the beans accounts 40% of overall evaluation
✎ Liquoring accounts 60 %
✎ Inspection of Raw coffee/visual inspection
✎ Screen analysis:
 is important to make size assessment/grading

 Can be done manually or electrically

 Based on the out comes one can easily know as to the sample size
(large , bold, medium, small etc.)
✎ Moisture content analysis:
 To analysis the moisture contents of coffee beans

 The sample expected to have a moisture content of 12 %

 The activity is carried out by a laboratory assistant taking a 300 gm

of green sample from the whole sample 191
Defect count system:

 This is very decisive & conventionally accepted sub

quality control parameters

 It is the principle of counting different kinds of coffee

defects using a set of standard developed

 Internationally a standard is fixed for these green

defects (over ripe, foxy, under ripe, immature,
black, whites, earthy, broken etc.)

 The total defects shall be obtained by assessing

& adding the defective units according to the
criteria indicated in Table 5 192
193
Black-bean
 The surface and the interior of the bean is wholly or partly dark
 The defect may occur on faulty drying or storage

Stinker bean
⇒ This is a brownish yellow bean whose embryo has been destroyed
⇒ It occurs due to fungal action on pro-longed fermentation periods or
over-heating during early stages of drying

194
 Insect damaged bean
The bean has holes & tunnels caused by berry borers

193
The coffee beans shall then be graded according to the grade requirement
shown in Table 6.
Table 6. Assessment of defects of green coffee beans

196
Appearance/color
 Overall appearance (bluish, grayish, greenish, faded, whitish etc.) of
the sample needs to be assessed by visual means against the
standards

 For a better coffee the blue to grayish signifies the most desirable
attribute of appearance/color

Shape and make

 Refers to the structure or make up of the beans (rounded, oval,

elongated, flat, etc.)

 The region where the coffee is growing, type & production system are
some of the factors that govern the shape & make up quality of the beans
Odor
 The type of odor that a given coffee sample depends on the way
coffee is harvested, processed and transported
 Nose or smell the coffee in order to ascertain its purity and free from
noxious odor 197
Coffee roasting
⇔ Coffee in raw state has no flavor or distinctive smell
⇔ A form of processing is necessary to develop the aroma
⇔ The art of roasting is to develop the bean to the exact, where the flavor is
brought to its maximum(100 to 150 gm sample)
⇔ To attain such objective the degree of roasting matters a lot & as a standard
a medium type is the desired standard
⇔ Process of roasting requires very skillful attention if the required flavor to
develop
⇔ Over or under, too quick or too slow roasting will upset the development of
the flavor oil and spoil the final coffee flavor (visual test)
⇔ Color & time of roasting has no bearing on the actual roasting (variation in
coffee type, amount & heating of the different cylinder, variation in moisture
content, amount of coffee used )
Center cut
white silver skin at center is sign of good processing brown center cut
Grinding
 It is a physical change or alteration in form with a means of reducing the size
by crushing, rubbing, cutting etc.
 The grind required for cup testing is termed medium that is proper for
extraction/brewing of the liquor 198
Coffee liquoring/Organoleptic analysis
It is an essential and most decisive step in the coffee quality control system
It is done to:
 Detect whether it is processed well or not
 Assess the major cup testing parameters (acidity, body, flavor etc.)
 Assess the quality of coffee prior to sale
 Advice the grower on their draw backs
 Evaluate coffee research trials
 Cup testing is done because of the variation in flavor of different type & origin of coffee
 Comparison of different coffee depends on:
Degree of roasting
Grinding
Quantity of boiled water
 To avoid such problem and obtain a true comparisons:
⇒ Use a standard degree of roasting
⇒ Use the same amount of coffee
⇒ The same size of grinding
⇒ Use the same size of cups
⇒ Use of the same quality of freshly boiled water
⇒ Carried out only when the liquid has cooled to palatable temperature (Not too hot
or too cold) 199
⇒ A spoonful of liquid is carried to the back of the mouth
⇒ At least three different tasters take turns to taste a spoonful from each cups
⇒ During this the acidity (sharpness in the test), body (thickness or weight of the
liquor) and all round flavor (acidity + body) are noted

200
Summary of current coffee standard

201
16. Coffee marketing
 For over 50 years east African coffee has been marketed through
auctions
 This marketing system has been adopted by the Kenyans in 1932
 Ethiopia started its auction system in 1952, the same time with that of
the Tanzanians
Auction system
 Conducted after an arrival coffee has obtained its respective grade
 The quality control department sends a summarized finding of quality
information to action department
 On the basis of quality physical bidding process will be carried out
 The exporter fix a price what they thought is reasonable and fair to
their business
 The supplier to whom the price is fixed rationalize the offer , decides
to sell if the price will cover their cost
 The trader takes the market risk between purchase and sale
 All arrival coffee are liable to pass through the action process except
Unions, state farms & some private coffee producers, who have two
alternative (direct or through auction)
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 Each bag shall be filled leaving sufficient free space for

each handling

 Such filled bags shall have normal net mass of 60 kg

 Bags shall be labeled as Origin/ Type? Grade /ESB no.

 For example , Jimma/DP/2/ESB.N1.002 Means Jimma dry

processed coffee of grade 2 according to ESB.N1.002

207