How Proma Café is Made
Proma Café is a blend of the finest Brazilian Arabica coffees that have been selected from quality producers across the country. There are three types of coffee trees: Arabica, Liberica and Robusta. Brazilian coffees are all mostly Arabicas and are suitable for cultivation at altitudes of between 2 000 and 6 000 feet. Librica and Robusta are hardier and grow at much lower altitudes. Their overall quality, though, is inferior to the Arabica bean.
Harvesting the coffee berries (of which the bean is the stone) is complicated by the fact that the berries ripen at different times and will not continue ripening after being picked. In some countries, the branches are stripped of both ripe and unripe berries, leading to an inferior coffee blend. The cherries that will ultimately make up the Proma Café blend are hand-picked to ensure ripeness and consistency. This means that pickers must return to the same tree many times in a year. Considering that each tree only yields about 1kg of coffee, this makes coffee production a labour intensive exercise. So the next time you sip on a cup of Proma Café, spare a thought for the effort that’s gone into producing your favourite cup.
Processing
There are two methods of removing the fruit and outer parchment of the coffee berry: wet and dry. Proma Café utilises the wet method, which is generally thought to be superior. The beans are mechanically pulped and soaked in fermentation tanks for up to three days. This results in a more flavourful cup of Proma Café.
Once the coffee has been sized, sorted and graded, it is ready for roasting. By using a rotating drum roaster at a consistent temperature of 220ºC, the coffee beans are slowly roasted to perfection, ensuring delicious flavour and aroma in every cup of Proma Café.
A special process called granulation breaks up the roasted coffee bean into small particles. A minimal amount of heat is used to maintain aroma and flavour.
Similar to brewing a fresh cup of coffee at home, the extraction process percolates the coffee in hot water. Special stainless pressure percolators, developed with state-of-the-art technology, are used to maintain Proma Café’s rich flavour and aroma. Because hot water is so vital in the production process, Proma Café uses geothermal alkaline mineral water drawn from semi-artesian wells some 1000 metres deep, emerging at 50ºC.
Once the extraction process is complete, the coffee is concentrated in a 3-stage process to meet special requirements.
The concentrated extract is atomised into droplets at the top of the Spray Drying Tower and subjected to a current of hot air, which evaporates the water. Soluble coffee develops at the base of the tower. To retain as much of the flavour and aroma as possible, Proma Café has pioneered a drying process at much lower temperatures - 130ºC as opposed to the conventional 280ºC.
The final step in the process is agglomeration. This process preserves the natural essence of Proma Café. Aromatic coffee oils are also added to produce granules of excellent solubility and outstanding flavour and aroma.
Your favourite coffee is now packed in tins and jars and shipped to its final destination.
