Number One, Bean Selection
VENTURE TO THE WORLD’S FINEST COFFEE GROWING REGIONS.
According to recent botanical evidence, coffee originated on the plateaus of central Ethiopia and was grown in mountain or cloud forests. Since then, coffee cultivation wandered east and west, eventually forming a belt roughly bounded by the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Coffee grows in three major growing regions: The Americas; Africa, Arabia & India; and Pacific & Indonesia. Come explore.
The Americas
This region is home to the first and second largest Arabica-producing countries in the world – Brazil and Colombia. There are an estimated 6 billion coffee trees in Brazil alone. Due to the prevalence of washed processing, this region’s coffees are generally bright, with a clean finish.
Regional Facts:
- Soil: Volcanic, red clay, fertile, rich, deep
- Processing: Dry, semi-washed, and washed
- Taste Profile: Generally bright and spicy with a clean finish. Delectable notes of citrus.
Africa, Arabia & India
The birthplace of coffee, the region of Africa, Arabia and India is a coffee historian’s dream. Rich with tradition, history, and romance, this region is also home to some of the highest peaks in the world. Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest at 19,340 feet followed by Mt Kenya at 17,058 feet.
Regional Facts:
- Soil: Volcanic
- Processing: Dry, washed
- Taste Profile: Wide range of flavors from floral and bright citrus, dramatic and complex.
Pacific & Indonesia
This expansive region is made up of over 13,600 islands ranging from the archipelagos of Indonesia to Hawaii. Coffees from this region are blessed with a mystic, individual character due in part to the wide variety of traditional processing methods employed here.
Regional Facts:
- Soil: Volcanic
- Processing methods: Dry, semi-washed, and washed
- Taste Profile: Earthy, rustic flavors, rich, dense and woody. Robust and exceedingly aromatic. Full bodied.
EXPLORE A WORLD OF FLAVORS.
Great coffee starts at the source. Tully’s works with the world’s best farmers, exporters, and growers to find coffees that embody the flavors of the micro regions where they are grown.
You’d be surprised at how dramatically coffee can differ depending on where it grows. A rain cloud may douse one hillside and subside before reaching the next. Cool night air may breeze past one row of plants and miss another. The hot afternoon sun may bake more moisture from one plot of soil than it does from a neighboring plot. All these factors profoundly impact the flavors that grow within the coffee cherry, and keep the bean selection process exciting and unpredictable, year after year.
SOURCING THE BEST OF THE BEST.
Today two species of coffee are harvested commercially: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica plants produce the world’s highest-quality beans. (The genetically inferior Robusta lacks the complexity to be considered in the specialty coffee category.) At Tully’s, we procure the finest – the top 10% of Arabica beans – and select the best of the best to carry our name.
There are over 65 different varietals in the Arabica species – all of which stem from the original two: Bourbon and Typica. Like grapes, the genetic strain of the plant, the way it adapts to its environment, and the way it is handled profoundly influence its character. The French call it “terroir,” meaning “taste of place.”
RAISE A CUP TO OUR GROWERS.
Our exceptional beans come from growers who share our passion for great coffee and fair business practices. We’re proud to have established relationships with these highly experienced coffee artisans, and believe in paying top prices to reward them for the amazing coffees they consistently produce.
HARVESTING & PROCESSING
Each year, coffee is harvested during the dry season when the coffee cherries are ripe, red (or yellow in some cases), glossy, and firm. Skilled workers will return to a coffee tree up to seven times over the course of a few weeks in order to capture the cherry at peak ripeness. Once picked, the cherries are processed in one of three ways: washed, semi-washed, and dry processing.
Washed Processing (or wet processing).
Washed processing begins with pulping the cherries of their skins. Using a pressurized machine, the cherries are pushed against a screen that allows only the seeds to pass through. Once the skin is removed, the coffee is then fermented with or without water. This process removes the pulp that surrounds the coffee beans and can take 16-36 hours depending on a number of factors. Once the pulp is removed, the coffee is dried on a patio until the coffee moisture level is 11-12%. The coffees produced using this method are very consistent, generally bright and dry with flavors of citrus (tangerine, apple, lemon), medium to high acidity and aroma of flowers, spice and nuts.
Semi-Washed (or pulped natural).
Like washed processing, the cherries are pulped of their skins. After the coffee is pulped, the fermentation stage is skipped and the coffee goes directly to the patio to be dried with the pulp intact. By removing the skins, the pulp dries much faster than in dry processing. This gives coffee more acidity and flavor consistency and results in a taste profile that is generally sweet with wetter citrus flavors and more body and complexity than washed coffees. Brazil has made this method famous and produces some of the best semi-washed coffees in the world.
Dry Processing.
The original “natural” method, dry processing entails drying the coffee cherries on patios, rooftops, or raised netting with the fruit and skins intact. Once the cherry is dried, the coffee is hulled to remove the dried cherry and the parchment. Coffees produced using this method are generally the most aromatic and flavor complex. Flavors range from herbal to cocoa-like with fresh and dried fruit notes.