Parchment: (n.) a coffee bean’s skivvies.

As we know, coffee beans are the seeds of the coffee fruit. Inside the pulp of the coffee cherry, there are two other layers around the beans: the parchment and silver skin layers. After coffee has been pulped, washed, and dried, the slimy parchment starts to flake off the beans like crumbly, dry paper (hence, “parchment”). Once the coffee is dried, a hulling process easily removes the rest of the parchment, though sometimes coffee is sold and shipped in its parchment.

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See the split in the yellow outer layer? That’s the dry parchment starting to flake off the green coffee beans.

2 comments

  1. Does that look like peanuts in person? To my eyes, from the picture, that looks like peanuts. Can you put that in the blender with other ingredients, mix it a certain way and make a spread like a Nutella kind of a product?

    1. Interesting question! Rather than being similar to nuts, coffee beans are the seeds of a fruit. They are similar to cherry pits, maybe a little softer, and would probably not lend themselves to a homemade Nutella spread. BUT! If you’re making a homemade chocolate spread with other ingredients, you could consider throwing in some very fine coffee grounds to get a nice coffee flavor and a little more texture in there!

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