From Our Farm to Your Cup: Hog Heaven Coffee Process

The Journey: Here at Hog Heaven Coffee, our journey begins with over 700 coffee trees, each nurtured by hand and carefully pruned to ensure optimal growth. 

side by side pics of coffee cherries on branch

Nurturing Our Coffee Trees: It takes approximately three years for a keiki (baby) tree to fully grow and start producing cherry. First come the flowering (small fragrant white flowers), then green beans, then red beans, called cherry, because they resemble the cherry fruit.

Harvesting the Cherries: As the coffee cherries ripen, we carefully handpick each one, selecting only the ripest and most vibrant berries. This meticulous selection ensures that only the highest quality cherries are used to produce our coffee.

 Wet Mill: After harvesting, the cherries embark on a journey through our wet mill. This specialized machine gently removes the outer skin of the cherries, separates out any imperfect ones, and washes the remaining beans. The washed beans are then spread out on drying racks to begin their transformation. 

front view of wet mill

Sun and Wind Drying: As the beans begin to dry, they’re referred to as “Parchment.” Parchment is actually an outer layer of the bean similar to the “skin” on peanuts. Each day, we meticulously agitate the beans by hand to ensure even drying. Our barn, strategically positioned to capture the sun's warmth and gentle breeze, provides the ideal environment for parchment to reach the desired moisture level of 15-16%.

 

Enhanced Drying and Storage: To further reduce the moisture content to an ideal 12-13%, the parchment undergoes an additional step in our mechanical dryer. Once the desired moisture level is achieved, the parchment is carefully double-bagged in airtight "Grain Pro" bags and stored in burlap bags until your order arrives.

Dry Milling and Roasting: Upon receiving your order, we embark on the final stage of the journey – dry milling. This process involves peeling off the remaining parchment layer, revealing the green coffee beans that are ready to be roasted to perfection.

Legacy of Tradition, Innovation & Passion: At Hog Heaven Coffee, we honor the traditional methods that have been passed down while embracing innovation to enhance our process. Our journey from farm to cup is guided by our passion for coffee.

We are dedicated to producing exceptional coffee that reflects the love and care invested in each coffee bean. With every sip, we invite you to experience the essence of Hog Heaven Coffee.

When we first started, rather than using the wet mill, all the process was done manually. A short video of both manual and wet mill process can be seen YouTube channel, Hog Heaven Coffee farm.

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