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Overripe, or to put it a better way Extended Tree Ripened Coffee [ETRC] was once considered a second rate coffee in most countries. But now if processed correctly it can be traded or sold for the same value as normal dried green bean. It has a much richer “port” like flavour because the bean stays on the tree past normal ripeness and actually dries out like a raisin, this means most of the sugars from the mucilage are transferred into the coffee bean, this doesn’t happen with normal wet processed coffee because the mucilage and skin are removed as the coffee is processed.

This ETRC is EXCELLENT to blend with regular roasted coffee beans as it adds body and depth to all roasted Arabica coffee beans.

Because the ETRC is so dry, when it is run through the wash separator it reabsorbs quite a lot of water, which if not dried off in 24-36 hours will cause a musty , mouldy taint to the taste of the coffee. The best way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to put it in a coffee dryer the same day it was processed and remove it only when completely dry [10.5% moisture content]. Note , dry the bean with the outer skin still on , if you attempt to soak , soften and reprocess you will reduce the beans quality.

If a dryer is not an option, spreading it thinly in the sun and turning it constantly through the day is the other alternative, but it must be turned continuously or the mouldy flavour will be absorbed into the bean.

It’s a major financial gain for farmers who mechanically harvest their coffee to keep all the ETRC harvested, as in some years the amount of ETRC can be as much as one third or more of the total harvest. Also the mechanical harvesting does not need to begin as early and this is advantageous for the following reasons: -

Ripe cherries dislodge more easily than unripe cherries later in the harvesting season.
the first PASS through the plantation is generally the most productive, so to prematurely begin the harvest picks too much unripe cherry and upsets the half ripe cherry.

The ETRC is slower to hull and has more sticks in it but these can be removed with a densimetric table or a simple angled sifter table that works similar to a gold panning type dish.

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