Product Knowledge: Coffee

Things to know about your coffee enjoyment

Every day we drink our favorite pick-me-up beverage. Often we still look quite tired when we treat ourselves to the first cup in the morning. Let's take a closer look now, so that you are well informed about the different coffee beans, their cultivation, the processing and the roasting of the small brown bean.

The coffee plants for Rapunzel Hero Coffee grow in places such as Tanzania, Peru, Colombia, Mexico or Southeast Asia. Not only the roasting and the type of cultivation of the coffee plants are decisive for the taste, but also their origin. Our coffee heroes grow Rapunzel coffee in a purely organic way, they pick the ripe coffee cherries by hand and carefully sort the beans. Depending on the type of coffee, the coffee bean is processed further and then roasted in our company in the Allgäu region in order to develop its full aroma.

Botany and cultivation

Coffee belongs to the botanical genus of the Coffea plants. Of more than 90 different species, the two most important varieties are Coffea Arabica (Arabica coffee) and Coffea Canephora (Robusta coffee).

Coffee bushes can grow up to 15 meters high. For cultivation, however, they are pruned to 1.5 - 3 meters. They produce white flowers and cherry-like drupes that change color from green to yellow to red depending on the degree of maturity.

Arabica coffee bushes are very demanding: they require a constant climate, careful care and only thrive at altitudes of around 600 - 2,000 m above sea level - therefore the name "highland coffee".

Robusta coffee, as the name already suggests, is a robust variety endowed with natural resistance to disease and pest infestation.

This type of coffee is particularly fast-growing and higher-yielding than Arabica. However, since it is more sensitive to cold, Robusta is grown in lowland plantations or at altitudes of up to 600 meters.

Coffea Arabica accounts for 70 percent of the global coffee production, Robusta for 30 percent. As with wine, the properties of the soil - for example soils with a high clay content or soils that are rich in minerals - as well as the hours of sunshine and the amount of precipitation during the growing and ripening period have a strong impact on the taste of the coffee beans.

The sensitive coffee plants need a balanced growing climate throughout the year without extreme heat and cold and with sufficient rainfall and plenty of shade. The higher the growing altitude, the lower the average temperature and the slower the coffee cherries grow. With slow growth, the bush has correspondingly more time to develop its cherries. This has a positive effect on the intensity and the variety of aromas in the coffee cherry.

From the coffee bush into your cup

Many steps are needed before coffee becomes an aromatic beverage

Organic coffee grows in mixed culture – with bananas, citrus fruit and shade trees, well protected against wind and strong sunlight.

The white flowers of the coffee plant have a fine and intense fragrance.

Depending on their degree of maturity, the cherry-like stone fruits change color from green to yellow to red.

Coffee beans in all states of maturity can be found on one coffee bush at the same time: from flowering to ripe red coffee cherries. The fruits mature in 9 to 11 months (Arabica) or in 6 to 8 months (Robusta) after pollination, depending on the species.

For Rapunzel Hero Coffee, the mature, red coffee cherries are carefully picked by hand. Each fruit contains two seeds, the actual coffee beans. They are embedded in the pulp of the fruit.

The Robusta coffee cherries are first dried and then the pulp is peeled from the beans ("dry process").

With Arabica coffee, the coffee beans are first extracted from the coffee cherry. This is done using the 'wet process' , i.e. the bean is washed, peeled from the pulp, fermented and dried.

The dried coffee beans are carefully sorted before they are packed for export to the roastery.

Green coffee itself does not yet have a taste.

Roasting and flavor

It is the roasting of the beans that allows the diverse coffee aromas to emerge. The decisive factors in this process are roasting time and temperature. The challenge for the roast master is to adjust these two parameters optimally for the respective coffee variety or blend. This requires many years of experience and a great deal of sensitivity.

Rapunzel coffee is roasted in small batches. Thus, the degree of roasting can be better controlled, and the coffee can develop its optimal aroma.

Part of the secret of Rapunzel's Hero Coffee is that it is roasted neither too quickly nor too hot. During roasting, acids are gradually broken down and make way for bitter substances. Therefore, light roasts contain fewer bitter compounds but more acids. Dark roasts, such as Rapunzel Hero Coffee Espresso, have less acidity and feature more bitter substances due to the longer roasting process.