Characterizing depulped coffee bean sizes in new coffee varieties

During the pulping of cherry coffee beans, the use of sieves is essential for separating impurities. However, in the case of new coffee varieties, the effectiveness of this process is limited when beans exceed the width of the sieve, resulting in larger beans getting trapped. To address this issue, this comprehensive study aimed at characterizing the size of the pulped beans in these new varieties to determine the percentage of beans retained within three experimental stations of Cenicafé. One hundred and forty-two samples were collected, each comprising 100 pulped coffee beans, totaling 14,200 sampling units. These samples were sourced from various crop times, harvests, and featured different ages, densities, and coffee varieties. Irrespective of origin, the length of the depulped beans ranged from 6.5 mm to 19.9 mm, the width from 4.3 mm to 15.3 mm, and the thickness from 2.2 mm to 16.4 mm. In terms of percentage retention of depulped coffee, variations based on locality, coffee variety, and harvest period were observed. Notably, Naranjal exhibited the highest percentage retention at 5.4%, followed by El Rosario at 2.6% and El Tambo at 2.1%. Additionally, the Cenicafé 1 variety retained the highest percentage of depulped coffee, reaching 10% in Naranjal, 4.0% in El Rosario, and 5.3% in El Tambo.