“The Life of Bean” - The Story of a Coffee Bean From Plant to Cup

Intro: “The Life of Bean” - From Farm to Cup

It takes years for one cup of coffee to be made.

The journey of a coffee bean from plant to cup is long but rewarding. There are many hands involved in each bean along the way to your cup. From farmers, to coffee roasters, all of us play an important part in that cup of coffee that you’re drinking.

This story perfectly illustrates the life of a coffee bean in a fun way, and it is very easy to follow.

The Life of Bean

The deep red coffee cherry sat on a middle branch of its mother’s tree. Just days before, the cherry turned from the bright red it had been for weeks into the beautiful plum color. It was ready.

The cherry had waited for this day, the day of its choosing. The farmer would walk among the trees and choose only the worthy; the ripest cherries.

Large grisled hands came grasping at the cherries on the trees and threw them in a brown wicker basket. 

Once in the basket, a sense of overwhelming joy overcame the cherry. Its true purpose was about to begin; to become the greatest cup of coffee.

The journey through the farm felt like it took hours as more and more cherries were thrown in with the rest. They were tostled around bouncing off one another, until they came to a halt.

Suddenly the basket was being overturned onto a blue tarp stretched across the ground where hundreds more cherries were being stripped of their outer layers. 

Left in their undergarments, they were transported to the Machine. The Machine was a large water filled container constantly sloshing around to remove the mucilage layer of the cherry.

The cherry always heard rumors of the elusive Machine and would stay up late at night worried about the day he would be pulped.

Once put into the machine, the cherry realized there had never been anything to worry about. It was safe and so were the other cherries. 

The cherry, now known as a bean, was plucked from the water and landed on a large wooden pallet laid out in the sun. The bean was left to dry for several days, as it sat there sweating, it started to think. For so long, the bean’s only purpose was to be chosen and then become an amazing cup of coffee but it never considered how long and hard the journey would be.

Becoming a satisfying cup that is both pleasing to smell and taste would be the greatest accomplishment. In the end, it would be worth it. 

Days upon days the bean sat in a massive burlap sack filled with thousands of other beans on a shipping container in the middle of the ocean. The sound of waves crashing against the sides of the ship were all the bean had for comfort.

All of the beans sat in an anxious silence waiting for the journey to be over.

Once off the boat, the burlap sacks were placed on many different trucks and transported to many different places. But this bean was going somewhere special. Standing outside the Refuge Roastery was a tall man with a fancy mustache waiting to invite the beans inside.

The tall mustached man, also known as the Coffee Roaster, began putting the beans into the roasting machine and heating them up while stirring them to keep them from burning. He then allowed the beans to cool before placing them into small white bags.

Some of the bags were then taken to a second location where they were sold to customers. One bag in particular was selected off the wall by a barista.

The bean inside waited anxiously.

The barista grabbed a handful of beans, placed them into a grinder, and then put them in a white coffee filter. The bean, now known as coffee grounds, watched from the filter as the barista filled a tea kettle with hot water. It watched as the tea kettle was brought closer.

The barista slowly and meticulously poured the hot water over the coffee grounds and waited for the gradual extraction of dark brown liquid. A pleasing aroma was released from within the cup and swirled throughout the coffee shop.

The cup was placed in front of someone the grounds couldn’t fully see.

The grounds saw the flash of a woman's toothy smile before seeing nothing.

It was worth it.