Avid coffee drinkers of today may have heard of green coffee beans that are taking the coffee industry by a storm. Known for its mild taste as compared to regular black roasted coffee, green coffee beans are hailed for its various benefits and its natural taste.
Green coffee beans are different in that it hasn’t been processed or roasted as much as the regular black coffee that many of us are used to. But if you’re new to experimenting with coffee beans, you may be wondering what the hype is all about with green coffee beans. After all, do not all taste like coffee?
In this article, we’ll take you through a journey across understanding what green coffee beans are and how they may be the new super coffee that everyone should be having.
What are green coffee beans?
Green coffee beans or raw, unroasted coffee beans are coffee beans that have not been processed or roasted. They are usually processed differently from the regular espresso beans we are used to seeing and tasting and have a wide variety of known benefits. As such, many coffee drinkers have since been replacing their regular espresso beans with green coffee beans.
Although green coffee beans are regularly processed into extracts and tablets, consuming green coffee beans as an espresso has become increasingly popular of late. On its own, green coffee beans are known to taste more like herbal tea than regular coffee. Upon preparation, green coffee beans often retain its distinctive green hue in a beverage.
If you’re used to the regular taste of black coffee, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that it isn’t a flavor you’ll find in green coffee. This, however, does not mean you won’t be getting the same caffeine effects. Instead, you may even gain more benefits from green coffee than your regular cup of joe.
But with all these great benefits that green coffee has to offer, you may be wondering how they make this new era of super coffee. Well, let’s look at how the coffee producers make green coffee beans.
How are green coffee beans made?
Unlike regular coffee beans, green coffee beans are beans that will not be roasted before being brewed. This retains much of the green coffee bean’s natural chemicals such as antioxidants for better overall health and chlorogenic acids that help aid weight loss.
To make green coffee beans, coffee producers regularly harvest the coffee cherries and send the fruit through a variety of processes like the wet process, dry process, or semi-dry process. Each of these processes takes place across coffee plants worldwide, with every plant adopting their preferred method to produce top-grade green coffee beans.
In a wet process, the green coffee beans are usually soaked in a large quantity of water to aid the sorting process. This helps the workers identify the good coffee cherries from the bad, and the cherries are pushed through a screen to remove the skin and pulp. The coffee cherries are then dried in a machine or under the sun before being packed for export.
A dry process, on the other hand, is the oldest form of processing coffee beans. After picking the coffee cherries, workers will sort the fruits by hand, eliminating any dirt, twigs, or spoiled cherries from the harvest. These fruits are then left to dry under the sun for up to 4 weeks and later sent to a silo where the hulling process to remove the pulp takes place.
After the wet or dry processes have been completed, most of these beans will be taken to a final milling process to remove any final layers of pulp and is then cleaned and sorted. An optional polishing process may also take place in this step to make the green coffee beans look better before they are packed into woven poly bags for export.
Many small-scale businesses may opt to sell green coffee beans to consumers in small, vacuum-sealed bags. This ensures that the green coffee beans will not receive unnecessary exposure to oxygen, thus affecting the flavor and aroma profile of the beans.
When left as a whole bean, you may keep the green coffee beans for up to 12 months in an airtight container. Green coffee beans that have been ground for consumption should ideally be used within 6 to 8 weeks as the flavor profile may change after.
What are the best green coffee beans for espresso?
Depending on your flavor preference for green coffee, you may consider blends like El Salvador or Ethiopian-made green coffee. These coffee beans are best known for their consistency, so you can brew cups of fresh, green coffee from the comforts of your home. If you’re looking for espresso that has a sweeter flavor profile, you may try green coffee beans hailing from Central and South America.
Do note that it may take several tries of beans from all over the world to find your perfect fit, so you don’t have to rush into finding the one bean immediately. Instead, it may be a good idea to sample several types of green coffee beans, so you can compare them to suit your tasting palate.
What are the benefits of green coffee beans?
Aside from its distinctively green color, green coffee beans are also best known for its various health benefits. Here are some of the benefits that are widely tied to green coffee consumption.
Green coffee helps weight loss
Weight loss has been the most common health benefit that is tied to the consumption of green coffee beans. This is believed to have stemmed from the natural chlorogenic acid that’s present in green coffee beans. Chlorogenic acid has been said to help accelerate metabolism and control blood sugar, hence making green coffee a great weight loss supplement.
In fact, green coffee beans have also been recognized to promote better weight loss than regular coffee. Although many people have opted to take green coffee extracts as a supplement to aid weight loss, a more natural way may be to consume green coffee as a beverage instead.
Green coffee contains high antioxidants
Green coffee has also been known to contain high amounts of antioxidants and is great for its anti-inflammatory use. Antioxidants have been widely linked to helping reduce heart diseases and even help avoid diseases like prostate cancer in men, making green coffee a great beverage for a healthier body.
Green coffee beans contain lesser levels of caffeine
For the longest time to date, caffeine has been known to be a great energy booster. Therefore, many urban adults look forward to their cup of morning coffee to help them get by their day. However, excessive consumption of caffeine may cause negative side effects like anxiety, heart palpitations, and caffeine jitters.
Although green coffee does contain caffeine, it’s been known to be significantly lesser than regular black coffee. Hence, green coffee makes the better choice in comparison if you’re looking for a caffeine alternative without feeling the excessive energy crash like you would with regular coffee.