Processing is required to separate the coffee bean (or seed) from the surrounding protective layers that make up the cherry. There are two methods used to process coffee: the wet (or washed) method and the dry (or natural) method. Some coffee growing countries use only one of these methods, while others use both, depending on whether water is available where the coffee is grown.

Dry Process
The dry method is the most traditional and still most utilized method for processing the coffee cherries. Originating in Yemen, coffee cherries were left to dry naturally on the trees. To harvest the cherries the trees were shaken until the dried beans fell onto cloths lying on the ground beneath the trees. Yemen and Ethiopia still process their beans this way.

Other countries using the dry process leave the ripe cherries on the trees for an initial drying. Once the cherries are taken from the trees they are spread out onto concrete or matted floors and left to dry in the sun for up to 21 days.

At the end of the dry method of processing, the coffee cherry still encases the beans in a dark, hard shell. When the beans have attained a moisture content of about 12% they are stored in silos or bins.

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