The Beneficio

This is the processing machine, the most essential tool in the beneficio. It handles the first two steps in preparing the coffee cherries. First, the machine depulps the cherries, separating the beans from the fruit. Then, in the traditional process, it washes the beans, leaving them clean and ready for the next stage: sun drying.

The hopper holds up to 1,500 pounds of freshly picked cherries, which then pass through the depulper. Each cherry typically produces two golden coffee beans. In the case of the honey process, we skip the washing step, allowing the natural honey-like mucilage to remain on the beans to ferment. In the natural process, we skip both depulping and washing, drying the cherries whole with the fruit still intact, which produces a sweeter, more fruit-forward cup.