Coffee Origins
From Coffee Cherry to Roasted Bean
August 15, 2026 · 5 min read
The coffee bean starts life as the seed of a red fruit. Here is the path it takes before it reaches your grinder.
Every coffee bean is the seed of a cherry. Most cherries hold two seeds, face to face, wrapped in fruit.
Harvest
Ripe cherries turn a deep red. Selective hand-picking means only ripe fruit is taken, and a tree is visited several times through the season.
Processing
The fruit has to come off the seed. In the washed method, common in Colombia, cherries are pulped, fermented to loosen the remaining fruit, then washed clean.
Drying
The seeds are dried slowly, on patios or raised beds, until they are stable enough to store and ship. At this stage it is called green coffee.
Roasting
Green coffee is shipped to the roaster, where heat develops the aroma, sweetness and color we recognize as coffee.
