Brain Fuel’s 7 Steps from Seed to Cup

1. Planting

: The region is about 1600 meters above sea level thus gets enough moisture and cloud cover to produce richly flavoured beans. The coffee trees there grow amid pine trees and a local tree called Alnos. The Benguet coffee has been cultivated for over 80 years mainly by Igorot people, it is a Typica variety from the Arabica species, that has adapted to the local conditions.

2. Processing the cherries

: The coffee cherries are mostly processed naturally. The selected beans are handpicked, dried on the pavement and then sold as dried coffee cherries, as water is hard to come by. In some areas where farmers are able to get spring water, they use wooden pulpers and some cooperatives have one single pulper shared by over a hundred farmers due to the high price of this tool.

3. Milling the beans

: Defective beans are removed either by hand or by machinery. Beans that are unsatisfactory due to deficiencies are removed. In many countries, this process is done both by machine and by hand, ensuring that only the finest quality coffee beans are exported.

4. Testing the coffee

: Samples from a variety of batches and different beans are tasted daily. Coffees are not only analyzed to determine their characteristics and flaws, but also for the purpose of blending different beans or creating the proper roast.

5. Roasting the coffee

: Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of about 550 degrees Fahrenheit. The beans are kept moving throughout the entire process to keep them from burning. When they reach an internal temperature of about 400 degrees Fahrenheit, they begin to turn brown and the caffeol, a fragrant oil locked inside the beans, begins to emerge. This process called pyrolysis is at the heart of roasting — it produces the flavor and aroma of the coffee we drink.

6. Grinding coffee

: The objective of a proper grind is to get the most flavor in a cup of coffee. How coarse or fine the coffee is ground depends on the brewing method.

7. Making coffee

: A well-tamped quality Benguet coffee bean powder (minimum 7g) is placed in the espresso machine to create a perfect espresso.