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What is Cherry Coffee?

Cherry Coffee is a unique coffee made from unprocessed coffee cherries, harvested with ripe red skin.

What is Cherry Coffee?

In the world of coffee, alongside the typical types such as Robusta, Moka, and Arabica, there’s another special variety known as Cherry coffee. If you’re a long-time coffee enthusiast, you’ve probably heard of this unique name. Aside from its flavor, Cherry coffee boasts distinctive characteristics. Let’s delve into the details!

What is Cherry Coffee?

Cherry Coffee is a unique coffee made from unprocessed coffee cherries, harvested with ripe red skin. These coffee cherries are handpicked from coffee trees grown in regions with favorable climatic conditions, giving rise to the characteristic flavors of this coffee type.

Coffee plant in Costa Rica

Cherry Coffee is a special coffee, offering a unique sweet and bold flavor different from regular coffee. It is processed from ripe, red-skinned coffee cherries, which are then naturally sun-dried and ground into powder.

What are the Characteristics of Cherry Coffee?

In Vietnam, why do people often call Cherry coffee “Mít coffee - (jackfruit coffee)“? Simply because the appearance of this tree resembles the jackfruit tree found here. It has an average height of 2 to 5 meters. The trunk, leaves, and fruits are large, easy to grow, and have good drought tolerance.

  • Cherry coffee fruit: The Cherry coffee fruit is oval-shaped, with a bright yellow, glossy surface. It’s also called Cherry coffee because it resembles a cherry when ripe. It’s one of the largest coffee fruit types today, with thick skins that require extended processing time.
Freshly picked coffee beans in Colombia
  • Cherry coffee flower: A mature Cherry coffee tree can produce from 30,000 to 40,000 flowers, which are white and emit a sweet fragrance when blooming.

  • Cherry coffee bean: These beans have hard shells, large sizes, often mixed with other types to create attractive flavors. The caffeine content in Cherry coffee beans is about 2%, lower than Robusta but higher than Arabica.

Classification of Cherry Coffee

Cherry Coffee is divided into two main varieties: Excelsa and Liberica, as follows:

  • Excelsa coffee: Excelsa is mainly grown in Southeast Asia and does not require much watering. The tree grows over 10m tall, and the fruits ripen and have a mild sour taste.

  • Liberica coffee: This variety is mainly grown in Guinea and Liberia. The height of the Liberica coffee tree is superior, with larger leaves, trunks, and fruits compared to other coffee types. Depending on the time, the Liberica fruit ripens later and carries the distinctive flavor of Cherry coffee.

Comparing Liberica and Excelsa coffee beans

This coffee variety is preferred by many due to its good resistance to harsh weather conditions and high pest resistance.

Unique Flavor of Cherry Coffee

Cherry Coffee is renowned for its sweet, slightly sour taste and long-lasting aftertaste. This sweetness comes from the natural sugar content in the skin of Mit coffee cherries, combined with the slight acidity of unprocessed coffee beans.

The distinctive flavor of Cherry Coffee also depends on the growing region and processing methods. Some perceive honey-like or ripe fruit flavors, while others sense almond or chocolate notes.

Coffee bean in hand
Flavor CharacteristicsDescription
SweetnessFrom the natural sugar content in the coffee skin
Slight acidityFrom unprocessed coffee beans
Long-lasting aftertasteLeaves a sweet and bold flavor on the palate
Distinctive aromaLeaves a sweet and bold flavor on the palate

Can you eat raw coffee cherries?

Coffee has a sweet taste, so we can consider it a fruit. It’s called coffee fruit because it resembles a cherry when ripe. And of course, we can eat them; in fact, the flavor of coffee cherries is very aromatic and has a unique sweet taste.

But they are not a common fruit type; unlike cherries or other common fruit. Coffee cherries are not grown to optimize their fruit flavor, they have very little flesh, and the skin is quite tough.

If you want to taste the flavor of a coffee cherry, you might not see them for sale at stores. The best way to try a coffee cherry is to visit a coffee farm or grow a coffee tree.

Conclusion

These are the shared information about Cherry Coffee. Hopefully, the article has provided an overview of this special type of coffee. Enjoy Cherry Coffee creatively and savor the unique flavors it brings.

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