Where Can I Buy Green Coffee Beans?
We’re glad you asked! Coffee Bean Corral offers a wide variety of green, unroasted coffee beans from around the world. Whether you prefer bold, rich flavors or sweeter, milder blends, you’ll find the right beans for your palate on our site.
We were the first green coffee bean store on the internet so we know a thing or two about how to provide you with the type of quality bean that fits your standards. You can even choose fair trade or Rainforest Alliance certified beans if those qualifiers are important to you.
Of course, we’re not the only option available for you. You can find other green coffee bean options online from multiple retailers. If you choose another source, be sure to do your research about where the beans come from, how they are handled, and what qualifies them as a quality product before you buy.
Are “Green” and “Unroasted” Coffee Beans the Same Thing?
Yes, despite the name, coffee beans are actually a seed, not a vegetable. When the “seeds” or beans are removed from the fruit of the coffee plant, they are green. Later, after they have been roasted, they take on their characteristic, dark brown color. Green coffee beans are dried and cleaned in preparation for roasting. This is the state in which you will receive them.
What Kind of Coffee Bean is Best?
This depends on your preference. While all coffee beans will take on the different flavor characteristics of the region they are grown in, most will be one of two types: Arabica and Robusta.
Arabica trees produce a smaller crop of beans, but these beans will be very flavorful and aromatic. Their taste is complex and distinctive, perfect for most blends, which is why they are so popular.
Robusta beans are heartier and have a higher caffeine concentration, but the flavor will not be as nuanced. These beans are usually combined with Arabica to experiment with different flavor and boldness profiles. They are also most popular in espresso strength brews.
If you explore our site, you will find detailed descriptions of all our bean offerings. Some of them will be distinctive because of the country they were grown in. Others have a flavor we carefully blended using various beans from around the world.
Brief Overview of Coffee Harvesting
The fruit of a coffee plant is commonly called a “coffee cherry” and usually takes about eight months to ripen before being harvested. After the cherries are harvested, they are processed with either a wet or dry method.
In wet processing, the skin and pulp of the cherry is removed by submerging the crop in water and pressing it through a screen. The remaining pulp is cleaned off either through fermentation or mechanical scrubbing. After the beans have been sufficiently cleaned, they are laid out in the sun or in a machine to dry.
Natural processing is the oldest method of processing coffee. The coffee cherries are simply dried in the sun. It could take up to four weeks for them to reach the preferred moisture content. Dried cherries are then sent to a mill to be sorted and hulled.
After green coffee beans have been cleaned and processed, they are ready to be packaged and shipped to coffee roasters. Certain types of green coffee beans may be held to age for a few years which lowers their acidity. Others can be further processed to lower their caffeine content and classified as decaffeinated.