Coffee Bean Traveler... Part 1 of 3

This is a short story about the life and times of a coffee bean. Ponder this. Do you have any idea what path your coffee takes before ending up in your cup? Imagine yourself a coffee bean for a moment and follow along.

Harvesting: You are a coffee cherry hanging on a tree somewhere near the equator. It is near harvest time so your green skin has turned a beautiful crimson color. One day a human notices your bright red cherry and carefully picks you and places you in their basket. Your journey begins.

Processing: You find yourself being dumped onto the ground surrounded by millions of other beans. After a few days of the relentless sun beating down on you, your pulpy flesh begins to dry. Each day you get some relief when a human plows through the masses of beans and turns your wrinkled skin away from the sun. By the end of the week your skin is evenly and completely dried. Then one day, instead of being plowed you are scooped up and transported to a large silo.

Hulling: As you wait in the cool dark silo you hear the humming of machines. Eventually, you slide your way toward the humming noise where you feel a machine gently stripping your dry skin from your bean center. At this point you realize that you are a twin, there are two beans inside of this wrinkled cherry. However, before you get a chance to meet your other half you commingle with other beans and are separated.

Grading and Sorting: Your first experience as a single bean is a roller coaster ride through a multitude of chutes and screens and air blasts. You are being graded and sorted for size and weight. Your smaller and lighter friends fall out first, then you, and finally your larger heavier pals do. By the end of the day you are resting inside of a nice airy jute bag surrounded by your peers who all waiting with anticipation as to what will happen next.

To be continued......C.B. Miller, www.BetterBeans.Com
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