Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/612330
26 STiR tea & coffee industry international / Issue 6, 2015 (December/January) By Jenny Neill offee research centers and equipment manufacturers continue to look for ways to improve coffee processing techniques amidst a growing worldwide demand. With the acceptance, at least within the coffee sector, that climate change is real, these innovators also sought ways to reduce the use of water and to minimize the pollution wet milling creates. Equipment suppliers took note of growers' and millers' needs to optimize produc- tion at all levels of quality. Energy efficient, low water consuming technologies for processing cherry into multiple grades of coffee are available now. As numerous trials have shown, roasters' concerns that drier milling might have a negative impact on quality are unfounded. One such project at the Coffee Research Experimentation Center in Lao PDR, compared the cup quality of coffees processed in three ways in 2005/06. The research- ers used a Vinacafe MXT Drum Pulper and MDN-0.5 Demucilager from Vina Nha Trang to wash arabica and robusta coffees for the "machine washed" beans in the trial. A key finding was that cup quality for each coffee did not differ significantly as a func- tion of how it was processed. However, despite such evidence and the availability of equipment that uses signifi- cantly less water than first generation wet processing facilities, many existing mills still use large volume fermentation tanks or do little to prevent waste water from polluting natural water sources. Many at the top end of the coffee value chain—consumers, baristas, roasters, and green buyers—struggle to understand why the newer technologies are not being pur- chased. A number of initiatives are underway to show how investing in the latest gener- ation of pulpers and demucilagers makes economic and environmental sense. Though change is moving slower than many had hoped, if successful, these projects will open new market categories to farmers. Wringing the Best from the Wash: Drier Wet Milling for Quality Coffees C Penagos UCBE pulpers, an acronym for Unidad Compacta De Beneficio Ecológico or in English, Compact "Ecological Benefit Unit. Carlos Brando, director of P&A Marketing which exports Pinhalense equipment