At the end of a harvesting day, collecting trucks transport berries from farms to a beneficio, private units in charge of sorting, cleaning, pulping, washing and drying the berries. Good berries are selected by placing the fruit in a water tank (siphon), and letting the good, heavy berries sink, while the bad ones stay on the surface.
The red skin is removed by placing the berries between fixed and moving surfaces, allowing free seeds to go through. The remaining red skins have been a damaging source of river pollution; for this reason, they are now being used as an organic fertilizer and combustible by most coffee mills.
Each berry contains two beans (seeds) which must go through another pulping process to remove the mucilage, a sweet, soft cover otherwise difficult to remove. Large fermentation tanks are filled with water where seeds are soaked for 24 hours. Eventually, natural enzymes brake down the mucilage, and seeds are now ready to continue onto the next phase.
The coffee seeds are thoroughly washed with clean water to ensure that all residual mucilage is removed. Coffee will now consist of a 50-60% humidity level, so the next step is to dry the coffee in three different stages to reduce moisture to a 12%. There are three drying methods. One is the traditional method, in which coffee is spread-out in sun patios under the hot, tropical sunrays for 4 to 5 hours (patio drying). The second method is known as La Guardiola, a rotating dryer that injects hot air into a constantly moving cylindrical drum. This method provides an even dryness to the coffee beans. A third method consists of a vertical dryer that injects warm air as coffee descends.
Once dry, the coffee will still have a dry parchment that protects the green beans against natural decomposition. Peeling this parchment is the last stage before export and roasting procedures, this way coffee producers ensure the best quality of the final product.
The parchment skin is finally removed by friction, and green coffee beans are packed in either 60-kilo bags (for export), or 46-kilo bags (local consumption), and transported to a roasting plant to give coffee its final touch before consumption.
Roasted coffee must be protected against three natural enemies: light, oxygen and humidity, for this reason it is important to pack roasted coffee immediately; once at home, make sure you keep coffee in a dry, dark place.
Costa Rican Coffee 
