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Coffee by Claire Amundson

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The Dominican Republic has amazing coffee according to my mom.  The best coffee is grown in tropical climates, but up in the mountains.  We went to see how they grow coffee in a place called Jarabacoa.


First the Dominicans grow the coffee, it takes about four years before a coffee plant is ready to harvest. Then they pick the coffee beans by hand, this takes a lot of work.  In my right hand are the coffee when you pick them from the plant, they look like berries.  The dark red ones are the best ones.  In my left hand the coffee beans have been through a machine above to take off the fruit.



Next they dry the beans in these tents to take out the moisture.  They need to get the moisture down to 11% so that takes a lot of sun.  Fortunately, the Dominican Republic has a lot of sun.  Charlotte is standing here because my mom made her.  My mom says she has a case of the teens.



Before you roast the beans you first need to hull them.  This means you take off the skin around the bean and sort them.  Sorting means you need to pull out all the bad ones.  You also need to make sure that you don't get germs on the beans.  My dad has germs on his beard, so we made sure to cover it up.



The beans are now called green.  They store them in these burlap bags and can ship them around the world like this, or roast them to drink.


Roasted beans smell really good.

After the beans are roasted they are weighed so that the bags have exactly 1 pound or 1/2 pound.  Then the bags are sealed with a hot metal press to make sure they stay fresh.



And then you have a bag of coffee ready for the store. 



So I’m gonna be honest with you here.  I don’t get it.  My dad is right, it may smell good but it tastes like bean water.




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