The moisture content of parchment coffee can be measured with handheld machines that can be taken to the drying beds each day. However, these machines are not common on most coffee farms because they are very expensive. Dehydration ovens can also be used for this purpose, but these are even more prohibitively expensive. Farmers have developed other metrics to estimate when their coffees are dried to a safe level. A common system is the ‘tooth test’ where a miller will literally bite into a bean. If it's chewy or the tooth leaves an impression, the coffee is insufficiently dry. However, research by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) suggests this method is not consistent for differentiating between coffees with moisture levels between 12–20%. Instead, the ICO recommends the following cheap method for measuring moisture, involving cooking oil.
Processing
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Processing Prologue
- PC 0.0 Prologue
Harvest
- PC 1.0 What's in Chapter 1?
- PC 1.01 The Harvest
- PC 1.02 Mechanical Harvesters
- PC 1.03 Ripeness
- PC 1.04 Fruit Softening
- PC 1.05 Reddening
- PC 1.06 Brix
- PC 1.07 Recap and Glossary
- PC 1.08 Comprehension Test — Chapter 1
The Wet Mill
- PC 2.00 What's in Chapter 2?
- PC 2.01 - Cleaning and Separating
- PC 2.02 Sorting
- PC 2.03 Flotation
- PC 2.04 - Pulping
- PC 2.05 Drum Pulpers
- PC 2.06 Disk Pulpers
- PC 2.07 Screen Pulpers
- PC 2.08 Interview with Ryan Brown
- PC 2.09 Recap and Glossary
- PC 2.10 Comprehension Test — Chapter 2
Flora
- PC 3.0 What's in Chapter 3?
- PC 3.01 The Fermentation Tank
- PC 3.02 The Fermentation Process
- PC 3.03 Temperature and Time
- PC 3.04 Bacteria, Fungi, or Yeast?
- PC 3.05 Filamentous Fungi
- PC 3.06 Respiration and Fermentation
- PC 3.07 Washing
- PC 3.08 Wastewater Management
- PC 3.09 - Wastewater Treatment
- PC 3.10 Recap and Glossary
- PC 3.11 Comprehension Test — Chapter 3
Controlled Fermentation
- PC 4.0 What's in Chapter 4?
- PC 4.01 Semi-Carbonic Maceration in Winemaking
- PC 4.02 An Interview with Hugo Silva
- PC 4.03 Carbonic Maceration
- PC 4.04 An Interview with Jamison Savage
- PC 4.05 Bag Fermentation — An interview with Nikolai Fürst
- PC 4.06 Innoculation
- PC 4.07 Kenyan Double Fermentation
- PC 4.08 Fermentation in Kenya — An Interview with Mette-Marie Hansen
- PC 4.09 Hot Fermentation — Interview with Petra Střelecká
- PC 4.10 Lactic Processing
- PC 4.11 Interview with Felipe Sardi, La Palma y El Tucan
- PC 4.12 Recap and Glossary
- PC 4.13 Comprehension Test — Chapter 4
Dry Processing
- PC 5.00 What’s in Chapter 5?
- PC 5.01 Naturals
- PC 5.02 Interview with Anabella Meneses
- PC 5.03 Quality Controls
- PC 5.04 Sugars in Natural Processing
- PC 5.05 Fermentation in Natural Processing
- PC 5.06 Mechanical Demucilagers
- PC 5.07 Flavour vs. Efficiency
- PC 5.08 Pulped Naturals and Honey Processing
- PC 5.09 The Short History of Honey Processing — With Francisco Mena
- PC 5.10 Recap and Glossary
- PC 5.11 Comprehension Test — Chapter 5
Drying
- PC 6.00 What's in Chapter 6?
- PC 6.01 Drying Patios
- PC 6.02 Raised Beds
- PC 6.03 Guardiolas — Mechanical Coffee Dryers
- PC 6.04 Taints Caused by Improper Drying
- PC 6.05 Interview with Rachel Peterson
- PC 6.06 Measuring the Moisture Content of Parchment Coffee
- PC 6.07 Water Activity in Green Coffee
- PC 6.08 Ochratoxin
- PC 6.09 Recap and Glossary
- PC 6.10 Comprehension Test — Chapter 6
Dry Milling
- PC 7.00 What's in Chapter 7?
- PC 7.01 Silos and Bodegas
- PC 7.02 An Interview with Marta Dalton
- PC 7.03 Hulling
- PC 7.04 Screening — Size-Grading Green Coffee
- PC 7.05 Density Sorting
- PC 7.06 Bagging, Super Sacks, and Shipping Containers
- PC 7.07 An Interview with Diego Lara of GrainPro
- PC 7.08 Recap and Glossary
- PC 7.09 Comprehension Test — Chapter 7
Processing Final Assessment
- PC 8.01 A Final Word
- PC 8.02 Final Assessment