How to Dry Coffee Beans in a Food Dehydrator

Using a dehydrator is one way to dry coffee beans.

Coffee plants are easily grown at home. For that reason, some people grow coffee beans as a hobby. Once you grow and harvest the beans, the next step is drying them. By removing most of the moisture from the coffee beans, you preserve them. There are a few ways to dehydrate fruits and vegetables. Using a food dehydrator is a lot faster than Sun-drying which is how most coffee beans get dehydrated. A food dehydrator is a small appliance that sits on the kitchen counter. Once you dry the coffee beans, you can store them before grinding the beans to make coffee.

Things You'll Need

• Food dehydrator
• Air-tight containers
• Drying trays

Instructions

1. Wash the coffee beans in a large pan of cool water. Discard any beans that float on the surface of the water.

2. Place the coffee beans on a mesh drying tray. Put the beans in one layer only. Separate the beans so they don't touch.

3. Put the drying trays into the dehydrator. Turn the heat on to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (or Low if you don't have specific temperature setting).

4. Stir the beans with a spoon two to three hours later. The process turns the coffee beans over so they the sides dry evenly.

5. Leave the coffee beans in the dehydrator until the beans have 20 percent moisture content. This takes five to seven hours in total depending on the size of the coffee beans. You know the beans are ready when you bite into the center of the bean. The outside should be dry but the center of the bean should be soft and moist.

6. Remove coffee beans from dehydrator, turn off dehydrator and let the beans cool.

7. Store the coffee beans in air-tight containers. Place container in a dry and cool place until you are ready to grind the beans to make coffee.

References

• Coffee Research: Growing Coffee Beans at Home
• Virginia Cooperative Extension: Using Dehydration to Preserve Fruits, Vegetable and Meats