Abstract
Eastern Ethiopia is among the regions naturally known for producing the best quality Hararghe specialty coffee. However, due to poor pre-and post-harvest handling practices, the quality of its coffee is below level of its inherent quality characteristics. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate different harvesting and postharvest handling methods on the inherent quality of Hararghe coffee. The experiment was designed as a factorial combination of two harvesting (selective and strip harvesting) and six postharvest processing methods (dry processed dried on bare, cemented and plastic sheet ground floor; and dry, wet and semi-washed processed dried on raised mesh wire) methods in a CRD with three replications. The samples were prepared from one Hararghe coffee genotype (H-622/98) planted at Mechara Agriculture Research Center. A team of certified panelists did its raw and organoleptic quality evaluation. The results indicated that the main effect of harvesting and postharvest processing methods were highly significantly influenced all coffee quality parameters evaluated. Selective harvesting was produced highest overall coffee quality (above 80%) that can be categorized under specialty coffee grade. Dry processing method coupled with drying coffee on raised mesh wire was best in producing coffee beans with high raw quality. In contrast, dry processing using bare ground produced inferior coffee for all quality attributes. The highest raw quality score (32.33%) was observed from the dry processed coffee on mesh wire while wet processing produced the highest cup quality (44.88%). The highest overall coffee quality (75.21%) was recorded for wet processed followed by dry processed coffee on mesh wire. Thus, it can be concluded that like wet processing, dry processing of selective harvesting and drying on raised mesh wire and/or plastic sheet floor can produce superior specialty coffee under Hararghe conditions. Key words: Hararghe coffee, specialty coffee, raw quality, organoleptic quality.
Highlights
The treatments consisted of the combination two harvesting methods viz., strip harvesting and selective harvesting; and six post-harvest processing methods viz., dry processing drying on bare ground, dry processing drying on cemented ground, dry processing drying on plastic sheet, dry processing drying on mesh wire, semi-washed processing drying on mesh wire and wet processing drying on mesh wire
Treatments Harvesting methods Strip harvesting Selective harvesting LSD (5%) Postharvest processing methods Dry processed dried on bare ground Dry processed dried on cemented ground Dry processed dried on plastic sheet ground Dry processed dried on mesh wire Semi-washed processed dried on mesh wire Wet processed dried on mesh wire LSD (5%) C.V (%) Mean
The highest mean value (44.88%) of total cup quality was recorded for wet processed coffee dried on mesh wire (Table 3)
Summary
Coffee is the world’s favorite beverage and the second most traded commodity after oil on international trade exchanges both in terms of volume and value (Alemseged and Yeabsira, 2014) representing. Besides being coffee’s birthplace, it is the single largest African producer of high quality Arabica coffee with about half of its production going for export. Coffee is the defining feature of the national culture and identity (Mayne et al, 2002) with 50% of the production consumed domestically (ICO, 2014). Among the Ethiopian coffee types that are distinguished for very fine quality acclaimed for its aroma and flavor characteristics recently, Hararghe (former Harar), Sidama and Yirgachefe are registered for trademark (Emebet et al, 2013) and sold at a premium price both at domestic and international coffee markets (ITC, 2002; Fekede and Gosa, 2015). In Ethiopia 29% of coffee is processed by wet (washed) method to produce green parchment coffee and 71% by dry (natural sundried) method to obtain cherry coffee. Musebe et al (2007) reported that coffee quality is determined by 40% in the field, 40% at postharvest primary processing and 20% at secondary processing and handling practices
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