Producing a Cup of Fairtrade Coffee

Lots of work goes into your daily cup of coffee! This infographic serves to show how many individuals put in hard work to put a hot (or cold) coffee in your hands! Buying Fairtrade coffee means these people are treated fairly and paid what they deserve!

1. Planting

Coffee bushes grown in the tropics can grow to be 3–3.5 metres tall
Most coffee is grown at higher elevation, but not high enough for freezing or cold temperatures
It takes 3-5 years for a coffee plant to begin to produce fruits. They can be harvested for between 50 to 60 years once fully grown

2. Harvesting the Cherries

After the coffee cherries begin to ripen, after about 9 months, the ripest cherries are often picked by hand by farmers. Farmers usually cycle through all the trees every 7-10 days, ensuring they pick all the cherries before they become overripe.
Experienced pickers average approximately 100 to 200 pounds of coffee cherries a day, which will produce 20 to 40 pounds of coffee beans

3. Processing the Cherries

The “Wet Method” is the most common way to process coffee cherries
- The freshly-picked cherries are passed through a pulping machine to separate the skin and pulp from the bean
- Then the beans are separated by weight as they pass through water channels
- The beans are transferred to large water-filled tanks, where they will soak for up to two days to remove a slimy outer layer

4. Drying the Beans

Once the beans have been separated from the cherries, they will be dried for several days, typically on a large surface of concrete or stone

5. Milling the Beans

Once fully dried, the beans are hulled to remove the extra dried skin around the bean
They are then sorted by weight and size, and defective (rotten, unhulled, underripe, etc.) beans are removed

6. Exporting the Beans

Hulled beans are called “green coffee”, and are exported to hundreds of coffee roasters in Canada and elsewhere
Canada imports over $50 million in green coffee each year

7. Roasting the Beans

Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of 550 degrees Farenheight
The machines continuously turn the beans to prevent burning for several hours
Once the beans reach an ideal inside temperature, they are rapidly cooled by air or water to stop the roasting process

8. Crafting the Coffee

Coffee beans are ground to various sizes depending on how they will be brewed — there are over two dozen ways to brew coffee!
- The finer the grind, the more quickly the coffee should be prepared and the less time it should spend in water

9. Enjoying!

Two thirds of Canadians enjoy at least one cup of coffee per day

Sources

Coffea. (2020, January 5). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea
Coffee Business Intelligence. (2019, April 8). The Canadian coffee consumption 2019. Retrieved from https://coffeebi.com/2019/02/18/the-canadian-coffee-consumption-2019/
Fairtrade Canada. (n.d.). Coffee. Retrieved from http://www.fairtrade.ca/en-CA/Buying-Fairtrade/Coffee
Fairtrade Canada. (n.d.). About Coffee. Retrieved from http://www.fairtrade.ca/en-CA/Farmers-and-Workers/Coffee/About-Coffee
Fairtrade International. (2020, January 10). Coffee. Retrieved from https://www.fairtrade.net/product/coffee
Jacobs, A. J. (2018, November 8). To Make a Cup of Coffee, It Takes More Than a Village. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-make-a-cup-of-coffee-it-takes-more-than-a-village-1541694551
National Coffee Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncausa.org/about-coffee/10-steps-from-seed-to-cup
Topeca Coffee Roasters. (2018, June 26). Seed-to-Cup: The Journey of a Cup of Coffee. Retrieved from https://topecacoffee.com/seed-to-cup-the-journey-of-a-cup-of-coffee/

What goes into a cup of Fairtrade coffee? (INFOGRAPHIC)

Download the Infographic in the Following Formats…

Be sure to tag us on social media!

Infographic Text Below