Who would have thought that coffee could grow on the California Coast. The Playing With Food Team visited one of the first coffee plantations in California in Morro Bay, and the State's only coffee processing facility in Ventura.
Playing with California Coffee
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Have you ever seen coffee plants?
Fr. Ian Delinger
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This is what coffee cherries look like. The bean is deep inside. The whole cherry is edible, and delicious!
Fr. Ian Delinger
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Each cherry has two beans, covered in the fruit.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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These are the coffee cherries that Fr. Ian harvested from Shanley Farms in order to make his own cup.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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The cherries needed to be washed. Some of the varietals at Shanley Farms produce yellow cherries.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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The fruit that surrounds the seeds must be fermented in order to leave a dry bean that can be roasted.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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At Frinje Coffee, in larger quantities, the fermentation takes a couple of days, and then the mucilage is washed off.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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After this "washed" means of removing the mucilage, the beans are left out in the sun to dry.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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The drying tunnels at Frinje Coffee.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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The "natural" method is to ferment the fruit in the skins. When dry like raisins, the skins are removed, leaving just the beans.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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This mill removes the skins of the cherries either, before the fruit is fermented off the beans, or after the cherries have dried.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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After drying, another thin skin is removed from the bean, then they are roasted. Now it's time for the "cupping" to grade the quality of the coffee.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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Fr. Ian is "breaking the crust" on the coffee after it has had time to steep.
Fr. Ian Delinger
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Fr. Ian roasted a handful of beans from Frinje (left) and Shanley Farms (right).
Fr. Ian Delinger
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The two coffees roasted very differently. Frinje (left) was darker. Shanley Farms (right) was lighter. Both were very different than commercial coffee. The flavor of "coffee" was one of many!
Fr. Ian Delinger
