I recently found another place to dry process our coffee - to thresh it from the parchment and machine-sort it to remove more of the defects. This is the step that we haven't been able to do in the Siguatepeque area, as there are no businesses that offer it to this extent as a custom service to others. The Xinacla special coffee processing facility is located about 2 1/2 hours from the Rugged Mountain Coffee farm, right in the midst of a huge coffee farm that specializes in micro-lots of specialty coffee, marketed by Passion Coffee.
COFFEE THRESHER
This machine threshes the green coffee out of its parchment shell.
SCREEN - size separator
This model is an older, fairly simple machine that's been restored. It sorts out the really small & broken grains.
OLIVER - density/weight separator
This machine has a sloping, vibrating table. The heavy, dense, high-quality beans move uphill and out the chutes on one end, while the lighter, inferior beans are shifted downhill and out the chutes on the opposite side.
ELECTRONIC SORTER
Every bean passes by an electronic eye that senses its color. It can detect a variety of defects such as fermentation, immature beans, overly aged beans, etc. Defects are blown out of the line by a puff of air. I was surprised at the speed of the machine given its size - it can process up to 4,000 lbs per hour!
