BREWOLOGY · SEED TO CUP
Before it was coffee, it was a seed.
Coffee doesn't start at a drive-through window. It starts as a seed on a mountainside far from here, and it passes through a lot of hands before it reaches yours.
Scroll down and follow it. Kids, read the big words. Grown-ups, open the Go deeper panels.
Illustrations created with AI.
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Not a bean
It's a seed from inside a fruit. It just looks like a bean.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 01 The seed
A coffee bean is a seed.
Day 1 It all starts with one seed
The coffee beans you buy are the seeds of a fruit called the coffee cherry. Put one in warm, wet, shady soil and it will try to become a tree.
Farmers start new trees in a nursery: a shady bed where young plants get extra care before they face the hillside.
Did you know? Coffee's story is said to start in Ethiopia, with a goat herder named Kaldi whose goats got lively after eating the cherries. It's a legend, but it's a good one.
Who does this Farmers and nursery growers.
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Is a coffee bean really a bean?
No. Beans like black beans and lima beans grow in pods. Coffee "beans" are seeds from inside a fruit, the coffee cherry. They got the name because of their shape.
Each cherry usually holds two seeds, flat sides pressed together. Every coffee you've ever had, from a gas station cup to a careful pour over, began as one of those seeds.
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Butterfly leaves
The first two round leaves are seed leaves. The long, shiny coffee leaves come after.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 02 The sprout
First a matchstick. Then a butterfly.
30–50 days until the first shoot appears
A month or more after planting, a thin stem pushes up out of the soil, straight as a matchstick. Then its first two round leaves open like wings. Growers call that the butterfly stage.
About two to three months after sowing, each seedling moves into its own bag in the nursery, under shade, until it's strong enough to plant out on the farm.
Did you know? Seedlings grow under shade at first. Before they're planted out, growers take the shade away a little at a time so the young plants toughen up in the sun.
Who does this Nursery growers and farmers.
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How do farmers start new coffee trees?
Most start in a nursery, not straight in the field. Seeds go into a shady seedbed, and it can take 30 to 50 days before shoots appear. At the butterfly stage, when the first leaves open, the seedlings move into their own bags.
The nursery is often covered to give the seedlings about half shade. Around two months before planting out, growers remove the shade bit by bit. That hardens the plants so the full sun on the hillside doesn't shock them.
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The coffee belt
Coffee grows between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, the warm band around the middle of the Earth.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 03 The tree
Then it waits. For years.
3–4 years before the first cherries
Out on the farm, a young coffee tree needs three to four years before it grows its first fruit. That's years of work before a single cup.
Coffee grows in the warm band around the middle of the Earth, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. People call it the coffee belt, and more than 50 countries grow coffee there.
Did you know? There are two main kinds of coffee. Arabica makes up about 60% of the world's coffee, and robusta makes up about 40%.
Who does this Farm families. Most of the world's coffee comes from small farms.
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Where does coffee grow, and what's the difference between arabica and robusta?
Coffee grows across the tropics. Brazil grows the most, followed by Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and India.
Arabica tends to be sweeter and has less caffeine. Robusta has more caffeine and a harsher taste. Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia are the biggest growers of arabica; Vietnam, Indonesia, Uganda and India lead in robusta.
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A flower
Where a flower falls away, a little green cherry starts to grow.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 04 The flower
It blooms. Blink and you'll miss it.
3–4 days and the petals are gone
When the tree is ready, its branches fill with small white flowers. They don't last: three or four days later, the petals are already on the ground.
Where the flowers were, tiny green cherries start to grow.
Did you know? One coffee tree makes somewhere between 1 and 12 pounds of coffee a year, depending on its soil, its climate and how it's cared for.
Who does this The tree does this part. The farmer watches the weather.
Go deeper
How long does it take coffee to go from flower to cup?
Longer than most people guess. After the bloom, cherries take six or seven months to ripen. Then come picking, processing and drying, milling and sorting, tasting, a long trip by ship, roasting, and a few days of rest before the coffee is at its best.
And that's for a tree that's already grown. A brand-new tree needs three to four years before its first flowers turn into fruit.
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Ripe
Red means ready. Pickers leave the green ones on the branch for another day.
Two seeds
Cut a cherry open and you'll usually find two seeds facing each other.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 05 The cherry
Green, then red, then ready.
6–7 months from flower to ripe cherry
The cherries start hard and green. Over six or seven months they ripen, and most turn bright red. A few kinds ripen to yellow.
Inside each cherry are usually two seeds, flat sides pressed together. Those are the beans. Sometimes there's only one seed, small and round. That's called a peaberry.
Did you know? Peaberries get sorted out and sold on their own as peaberry coffee.
Who does this The tree, with sun and rain.
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What's inside a coffee cherry?
From the outside in: a thin skin, then a layer of sweet fruit called pulp, then a sticky layer called mucilage. Under that, each seed is wrapped in a papery shell called parchment and a thin film called silverskin.
All of that has to come off before roasting, and how a farm takes the fruit off changes how your coffee tastes. More on that at Stop 07.
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The basket
A full day of picking can weigh as much as a grown-up.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 06 The harvest
Picked by hand, or by machine on some big farms.
Every 8–10 days pickers come back to the same trees
Cherries on the same branch don't ripen at the same time. So on farms that pick by hand, pickers walk the rows again and again, about every 8 to 10 days, taking only the ripe ones.
It's hot, careful, tiring work. A skilled picker can gather 50 to 120 kilograms of cherries in a day. That's about 110 to 265 pounds.
Not every farm picks by hand. On big, flatter farms, in places like Brazil, machines drive down the rows and shake the cherries loose. Steep mountain farms are too tight for machines, so people do the picking there.
Did you know? About 12.5 million farms grow coffee, and about 95% of them are smaller than 5 hectares, around seven football fields. Small farms like these grow most of the world's coffee.
Who does this Pickers and farm families, and on some big farms, harvesting machines.
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Why are coffee cherries picked more than once?
Because a coffee tree ripens a little at a time. Picking only the ripe cherries and coming back for the rest is called selective picking. It's slow, but unripe cherries hurt the flavor.
The faster way is strip picking: pulling every cherry off the branch at once, ripe or not. A worker can strip pick 120 to 250 kilograms a day, compared with 50 to 120 kilograms picking selectively. Large, flat farms in places like Brazil often harvest by machine, which is faster but less choosy about ripeness than a careful picker.
Around 125 million people around the world depend on coffee for their living.
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The fruit
This is the part that comes off. It's sweet, but it's not what gets roasted.
The seeds
What's left once the fruit is gone.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 07 Processing
Get the fruit off the seed.
3 main ways washed, natural and honey, plus a few experiments
After picking, the fruit has to come off the seeds. Farms do it in three main ways.
- Washed: squeeze the seeds out of the fruit, let the sticky layer loosen, then rinse it away with water.
- Natural: dry the whole cherry in the sun with the seeds still inside, then take the dried fruit off.
- Honey: take the skin and pulp off, but leave some of the sticky layer on while the seeds dry. Farms call it yellow, red or black honey depending on how much they leave on: yellow keeps a little, black keeps nearly all of it.
- Experimental: some farms now ferment coffee in sealed tanks with no air (anaerobic fermentation), or seal up whole cherries the way some winemakers do with grapes (carbonic maceration). The flavors can get loud: ripe berry, grape, even cinnamon.
Did you know? Natural coffees often taste fruitier. Washed coffees often taste cleaner and brighter.
Who does this Farmers and the crews at the local mill.
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What's the difference between washed, natural and honey coffee, and what are the experimental methods?
It comes down to how much fruit stays with the seed while it dries.
Washed coffee has the fruit taken off before drying, so the flavor comes mostly from the seed itself. Expect a cleaner, brighter cup.
Natural coffee dries inside the whole cherry, so the fruit stays with the seed the whole time. Expect more fruit and more body.
Honey sits in between: some of the sticky fruit stays on during drying. The name comes from that sticky layer, not from any honey.
Honey comes in shades. As a rough rule, yellow honey keeps about a quarter of the sticky layer, red about half and black nearly all of it. The more that stays on, the slower and riskier the drying, and the sweeter and more complex the cup can get.
Then there are the experiments. In anaerobic fermentation, coffee ferments in an airtight tank with a one-way valve, often longer than a normal fermentation. In carbonic maceration, a trick borrowed from winemaking, whole cherries ferment in sealed tanks for days or even weeks. These coffees can taste like nothing else on the table, and a carbonic maceration coffee helped win the 2015 World Barista Championship.
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Raised bed
Air moves under a raised bed, so the coffee dries from every side.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 08 Drying
Sun. Rake. Repeat.
10–12% water left when it's done drying
Next, the coffee dries in the sun on big patios or raised beds. Workers rake it and turn it over and over so every seed dries evenly.
Honey-processed coffee dries with some of its sticky fruit still on, so the beds can look yellow, red or almost black. Those colors are where yellow, red and black honey get their names. The darker it is, the slower it dries and the closer it has to be watched, often in shade.
It's done when only about 10 to 12% of it is water. Too wet and it can ferment or grow mold. Dry it unevenly and the flavor fades.
Did you know? The International Coffee Organization says dried green coffee should be 8 to 12.5% water.
Who does this Farm workers with rakes, and a lot of sunshine.
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Why does drying coffee take so much care?
Wet coffee is a perfect home for mold, and it can start fermenting in ways nobody wants to taste. So drying has to go far enough, to about 10 to 12% water, and it has to go slowly and evenly.
That's why the coffee gets raked and turned again and again, and why farmers check the moisture before they bag it for the mill.
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Sorting screens
Beans drop through holes of different sizes, so each batch ends up the same size.
A close look
Damaged beans get spotted and pulled out, often by hand.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 09 Milling and sorting
Peel it. Sort it. Check it again.
Green coffee is what's left
At the mill, machines take off the papery parchment, and the seed underneath is finally out: green coffee. It's pale, hard, and smells nothing like coffee yet.
Then it's sorted by size and by weight, and broken or damaged beans are picked out, by machine and often by hand.
Did you know? Green coffee is the form coffee travels in. It isn't roasted yet, so it holds up far better on a long trip.
Who does this Mill workers and sorters.
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What is green coffee?
Green coffee is the dried, raw seed with all its fruit and parchment removed, before roasting. It's the form coffee is bought and sold in around the world.
Sorting matters because beans of the same size and weight roast evenly together. Damaged beans, like broken pieces, get pulled out so they don't spoil the batch.
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The slurp
Slurping sprays coffee across your whole tongue, so tasters catch every flavor.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 10 Tasting
Somebody tastes it first. Loudly.
80+ points to be called specialty
Before green coffee is sold, a small sample gets roasted and tasted at a cupping. Hot water goes over the grounds, the crust on top gets broken, and tasters slurp it off a spoon, loudly, so it sprays across the whole tongue.
They score it out of 100 points. Coffee that scores 80 or higher is called specialty coffee.
Did you know? Tasters judge things like flavor, acidity and body and add them up into one score. Some of the most surprising cups on the table come from experimental fermentation.
Who does this Cuppers and coffee buyers.
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What makes coffee "specialty"?
The Specialty Coffee Association uses a 100-point scale. A coffee that scores 80 points or more at a cupping counts as specialty.
Getting there takes everything before this stop: healthy trees, ripe cherries, careful processing and even drying. A slip at any step shows up in the cup.
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The sack
One standard bag holds 60 kilograms of green coffee, about 132 pounds.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 11 The voyage
Into a sack. Onto a ship.
60 kg in a standard bag, about 132 pounds
Green coffee travels in big sacks. Around the world, coffee is counted in 60-kilogram bags.
The bags ride in shipping containers across the ocean, then go by truck to roasters like us. Green coffee handles the trip well. Roasted coffee wouldn't: it's at its peak for weeks, not months. That's why it gets roasted here, close to you.
Did you know? The world grows almost 11 million tonnes of coffee a year.
Who does this Exporters, ship crews, importers and truck drivers.
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Why don't farms roast coffee before they ship it?
Roasted coffee changes fast. It gives off gas for days after roasting and starts losing flavor as it meets the air. Green coffee, dried to the right moisture and stored well, holds steady much longer.
So the smart move is to ship it green and roast it close to the people who'll drink it. That's what we do.
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First crack
That popping sound is the beans swelling as steam and gas escape.
Green to brown
Green, yellow, tan, brown, dark brown: the colors beans pass through in the roaster.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 12 Roasting
Now it's our turn.
About 400°F when the beans start turning brown
Here at our roastery, we roast in small batches. Inside the roaster, green beans dry out, turn yellow, then start to brown at about 400°F. Soon you hear first crack, a pop like popcorn, as steam and gas burst out.
By then the beans have lost about 10 to 15% of their weight and grown bigger. Stop soon after first crack for a lighter roast. Keep going for a darker one. Every bag gets its roasted-on date.
Did you know? Darker roasts taste more of the roast itself. Lighter roasts keep more of the flavors from the farm.
Who does this Us, at our roastery.
Shop our roastsGo deeper
What happens inside a roasting coffee bean?
Heat drives water out of the bean, then sets off the browning that makes coffee taste and smell like coffee, a lot like bread turning to toast.
Around 410°F the bean hits first crack, when steam and carbon dioxide break through and the bean nearly doubles in size. Light roasts stop right around first crack. Medium roasts go a little past it. Dark roasts go to the edge of second crack, or just into it.
Our eleven roasts run from light-medium to dark, Bloom to Apex. See them all on the Seed to Summit journey.
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The valve
It lets CO₂ out and keeps air out while the coffee rests.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 13 Resting
Then it needs a nap.
3–21 days after roasting, when it's at its peak
Fresh coffee needs time to rest. It releases CO₂ (degassing) for the first several days, so it hits its peak flavor about 3 to 21 days after roasting. Your bag can arrive anywhere in that window, and that's when it's ready to brew.
Did you know? The little round valve on many coffee bags lets gas out without letting air in.
Who does this Time. And a good bag.
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Why isn't coffee at its best right after roasting?
Freshly roasted beans are full of carbon dioxide, and for the first several days they let it out. That's why we give coffee time before it's at its peak.
For the best cup, enjoy it within 90 days of the roasted-on date, before oxidation starts to dull the flavor. Keep whole beans in an airtight, opaque container at room temperature, and grind right before you brew.
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The pour
Water at 195 to 205°F pulls the flavor out of the grounds.
Tap the marks to look closer. Stop 14 Grind and brew
Grind it. Add hot water. Wait.
195–205°F water for brewing
Grind right before you brew: coarse for French press, medium for drip and pour over, fine for espresso. Then add water at around 195 to 205°F and give it time.
A cup of coffee is mostly water, so good water makes a better cup.
Did you know? Our coffee-to-water calculator does the math for your brewer, cup by cup.
Who does this You.
Open the brew guidesGo deeper
What grind should I use for my brewer?
- Pour over, Chemex and drip: medium, like table salt.
- French press: coarse, like sea salt.
- Cold brew: your grinder's coarsest setting.
- AeroPress: fine, like sand. Espresso goes finer still.
Our Brewology guides walk through each brewer step by step.
STOP 15 · YOUR CUP
Now it's yours.
Years of growing, a long line of hands and a trip across an ocean got this coffee to your cup. That's worth knowing every time you drink it.
It's why we do this the way we do. We don't sell coffee. We bring you into it: small batches roasted in-house, a roasted-on date on every bag, eleven roasts laid out as steps from Bloom to Apex, and guides that teach anyone, at any age, how coffee works.
- 01Day 1The seed
- 0230–50 daysThe sprout
- 033–4 yearsThe tree
- 043–4 daysThe flower
- 056–7 monthsThe cherry
- 06Every 8–10 daysThe harvest
- 073 main waysProcessing
- 0810–12%Drying
- 09Green coffeeMilling and sorting
- 1080+Tasting
- 1160 kgThe voyage
- 12About 400°FRoasting
- 133–21 daysResting
- 14195–205°FGrind and brew
Coffee's journey, roasted for yours.