{ "id": "cherry-to-green-conversion", "url": "https://coffearium.org/entries/cherry-to-green-conversion/", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "title": "Cherry-to-green conversion", "summary": "How much green coffee a harvest gives – the mass lost at each step from fresh cherry to green coffee, the moisture behind it, and the conversion factors producers and traders use to calculate it.", "domain": "post-harvest-processing", "kind": "Concept", "stage": "process", "topics": [ "science" ], "topicSections": {}, "lang": "en", "status": "verified", "reviewer": "Coffearium verification pass", "lastVerified": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z", "updated": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z", "brief": [ "In a Colombian study of washed processing, 100 kg of selected ripe cherry gave about 20 kg of dry parchment and 16 kg of green coffee (6.23:1).1", "Standard trade ratios are 3:1 from fresh to dried cherry, 2:1 from dried cherry to green coffee and 1.25:1 from dry parchment to green coffee.5,6", "Most of the lost mass is water. Washed coffee dried from 53% to 11% moisture (wet basis) loses about 47% of its mass.2", "Canephora (robusta) gave on average 24.68 kg of green coffee (at 12% moisture) per 100 kg of fresh fruit in a 2025 Brazilian study, against about 16 kg for washed arabica in a Colombian study.1,7", "The mass after drying follows from the dry matter, which stays constant – m₂ = m₁ × (100 − M₁) ÷ (100 − M₂), with moisture M on a wet basis.10" ], "quickFacts": [ { "label": "Fresh cherry to green (washed)", "value": "About 5–6:1; 6.23:1 measured (Colombia, 2006)" }, { "label": "Fresh cherry to dry parchment", "value": "About 5:1; 4.94:1 measured (selected ripe cherry)" }, { "label": "Dry parchment to green", "value": "1.25:1 (factor 0.80)" }, { "label": "Fresh to dried cherry, dried cherry to green", "value": "3:1 and 2:1 (factor 0.50), standard ratios" }, { "label": "Canephora (Brazil, 2025)", "value": "24.68 kg green per 100 kg fresh fruit (mean); 22.57 kg allowing for unripe fruit" }, { "label": "Drying washed coffee, 53% → 11% (wb)", "value": "Mass falls by about 47%" }, { "label": "Colombian factor de rendimiento", "value": "94 kg dry parchment per 70 kg excelso (reference as of 2025)" } ], "aka": [ "Cherry-to-green ratio", "Coffee conversion ratios" ], "linkTerms": [ "conversion ratio", "conversion ratios", "conversion factor", "conversion factors", "factor de rendimiento", "rendimiento en trilla", "cherry-to-green" ], "related": [ "washed-process", "natural-process", "honey-process", "pulped-natural", "pulping", "mucilage", "drying", "hulling-and-dry-milling", "moisture-and-water-activity", "coffee-cherry-anatomy", "bean-size-and-density", "coffea-canephora" ], "contested": [ "Parchment share of dry parchment coffee: Cenicafé measured a parchment-to-green ratio of 1.25 (1.26 for unselected coffee), which means 20% of the mass leaves at hulling, and Schuit et al. give the same 20% as the international standard1,6; the same Cenicafé table reports a hulling loss (merma en trilla) of 17.75–18.40%, and a Cenicafé drying chapter, citing that study, gives 18 kg of husk per 100 kg of dry parchment.1,2 The sources do not say how the two figures are defined against each other." ], "corrections": [ { "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Dry-matter shares: the seed (55%) and parchment (12%) shares were removed and the pulp share changed from 28–29% to about 30%; source 8 (Perraud-Gaime et al. 2000) was replaced by Eckhardt et al. 2022, and the sentence resting only on it (higher traded yield for canephora) was removed.", "reason": "The two Tier B sources were not independent (compilations of the same 1978 data; Feedipedia names no source for them), and the chapter could not be opened; Eckhardt et al. (Tier A) gives about 30%." }, { "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Open questions: the water-balance ratio was corrected from 1.8–2.2:1 to 1.8–2.3:1, and the fruit moisture needed for 3:1 from about 71% to about 70–71%.", "reason": "Recomputed: 60% to 10% gives 2.25:1; 3:1 needs 70% fruit moisture (dried to 10%) or 70.7% (dried to 12%)." }, { "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Canephora brief and quick fact: 22.57 and 24.68 kg are no longer shown as a range but as the mean index and the field index (allowing for unripe fruit). Pulp removed at pulping given as 43–44 kg to match the 44% share stated above.", "reason": "The two values are different indices, not the spread of results (cultivar means were 22.51–27.96%)." }, { "date": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Over-drying example: noted that Cenicafé's table gives no reference moisture and that the losses match drying to 11%; wet basis labelled in examples 5 and 7.", "reason": "Worked examples will be used as exam questions; the basis must be explicit." } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "title": "Propiedades físicas y factores de conversión del café en el proceso de beneficio (Avances Técnicos 370)", "authors": "Montilla-Pérez, J.; Arcila-Pulgarín, J.; Aristizábal-Loaiza, M.; Montoya-Restrepo, E. C.; Puerta-Quintero, G. I.; Oliveros-Tascón, C. E.; Cadena-Gómez, G.", "year": 2008, "publisher": "Cenicafé (Colombian Coffee Research Centre)", "url": "https://biblioteca.cenicafe.org/bitstream/10778/358/1/avt0370.pdf", "tier": "A", "quote": "Rendimiento en trilla: Cantidad de café pergamino seco necesario para obtener un saco de 70 kg de café excelso.", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s2", "title": "Secado solar y secado mecánico del café", "authors": "Oliveros-Tascón, C. E.; Ramírez-Gómez, C. A.; Sanz-Uribe, J. R.; Peñuela-Martínez, A. E.; Pabón-Usaquén, J.", "year": 2013, "publisher": "Cenicafé — Manual del cafetero colombiano, Vol. 3", "url": "https://biblioteca.cenicafe.org/bitstream/10778/4345/1/cenbook-0026_29.pdf", "tier": "A", "quote": "cuando la masa de café experimente una disminución de 47,3% de su valor inicial", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s3", "title": "El desmucilaginado mecánico del café (Avances Técnicos 216)", "authors": "Oliveros-Tascón, C. E.; Roa-Mejía, G.", "year": 1995, "publisher": "Cenicafé (Colombian Coffee Research Centre)", "url": "https://biblioteca.cenicafe.org/jspui/bitstream/10778/1073/1/avt0216.pdf", "tier": "A", "quote": "Representa aproximadamente el 22% en peso del café en baba y el 13% del peso de la cereza.", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s4", "title": "Estimación de pérdidas económicas en el proceso de beneficio de café", "authors": "Arango-Cardona, D. F.; Mira-Rada, B. E.; Salazar, H. M.", "year": 2025, "publisher": "Revista Cenicafé 76(2), e76203", "url": "https://publicaciones.cenicafe.org/index.php/cenicafe/article/download/4980/5284/4000", "doi": "10.38141/10778/76203", "tier": "A", "quote": "se necesitan 94 kg de café pergamino seco para obtener 70 kg de café excelso", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s5", "title": "Rules on Statistics: Statistical Reports (ICC-102-10)", "authors": "International Coffee Council", "year": 2011, "publisher": "International Coffee Organization", "url": "https://ico.org/documents/Key%20documents/kd-icc-102-10e-rules-statistical-reports-final.pdf", "tier": "A", "quote": "to find the equivalent of parchment coffee to green coffee, multiply the net weight of the parchment coffee by 0.80", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s6", "title": "The potential for income improvement and biodiversity conservation via specialty coffee in Ethiopia", "authors": "Schuit, P.; Moat, J.; Gole, T. W.; Challa, Z. K.; Torz, J.; Macatonia, S.; Cruz, G.; Davis, A. P.", "year": 2021, "publisher": "PeerJ 9, e10621", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7879952/", "doi": "10.7717/peerj.10621", "tier": "A", "quote": "Standard conversion rates are: for fresh cherry to sundried cherry 3:1, and for sundried cherry to clean coffee 2:1", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s7", "title": "Maturation cycle and fruit-to-bean conversion ratios in Amazon Robusta coffee cultivars", "authors": "Sousa, A. L. B. de; Rocha, R. B.; Tadeu, H. C.; Lopes, M. T. G.; Espindula, M. C.; Silva, R. C. da; Ferreira, F. M.", "year": 2025, "publisher": "Revista Caatinga 38, e12571", "url": "https://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/bitstream/doc/1171391/1/Maturation-cycle-and-fruit.pdf", "doi": "10.1590/1983-21252025v3812571rc", "tier": "A", "quote": "The mean outturn index was 24.68%, and the field outturn index was 22.57%, with Itacoatiara having the highest mean values.", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s8", "title": "Risk Assessment of Coffee Cherry (Cascara) Fruit Products for Flour Replacement and Other Alternative Food Uses", "authors": "Eckhardt, S.; Franke, H.; Schwarz, S.; Lachenmeier, D. W.", "year": 2022, "publisher": "Molecules 27(23), 8435", "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/23/8435", "doi": "10.3390/molecules27238435", "tier": "A", "quote": "About 30% of the dry matter of the coffee cherry is due to the exocarp and mesocarp, which together are generally referred to as pulp.", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s9", "title": "Coffee hulls, fruit pulp and by-products", "authors": "Heuzé, V.; Tran, G.", "year": 2026, "publisher": "Feedipedia, a programme by INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO", "url": "https://feedipedia.review.fao.org/node/549", "tier": "B", "quote": "43% of the weight of the coffee fruit on a fresh weight basis", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s10", "title": "Rural structures in the tropics: design and development, Chapter 16: Grain crop drying, handling and storage", "authors": "Mrema, G.; Gumbe, L. O.; Chepete, H. J.; Agullo, J.", "year": 2011, "publisher": "FAO", "url": "https://fao.org/4/i2433e/i2433e10.pdf", "tier": "A", "quote": "The weight of grain after drying may be found using the following equation:", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s11", "title": "Advances in coffee drying: A comprehensive review of traditional, solar, mechanical, hybrid, and emerging methods", "authors": "Duque-Dussán, E.; Figueroa-Varela, P. A.; Cruz-Ospina, V.; Banout, J.", "year": 2026, "publisher": "Foods 15(10), 1737", "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/15/10/1737", "doi": "10.3390/foods15101737", "tier": "A", "quote": "Freshly harvested beans typically contain 50–60% moisture on a wet basis, depending on the processing method", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s12", "title": "Hygroscopic equilibrium and physical properties evaluation affected by parchment presence of coffee grain", "authors": "Corrêa, P. C.; Oliveira, G. H. H.; Rodrigues, A. P. L.; Campos, S. C.; Botelho, F. M.", "year": 2010, "publisher": "Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 8(3), 694–702", "url": "https://sjar.revistas.csic.es/index.php/sjar/article/download/1267/1211", "tier": "A", "quote": "The bulk density decreased when the moisture content decreased for the PP coffee grain", "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" } ], "markdown": "## Where the weight goes\n\nA coffee cherry is mostly not green coffee. Throughout processing the crop loses weight, through the loss of water and the removal of mucilage and parchment.6 Pulping also takes off the skin and pulp, which make up about 44% of the fresh fruit's weight.1\n\nThe trade measures this loss as a ratio. A ratio of 6:1 means that 6 kg of fresh cherry give 1 kg of clean (green) coffee.6 For washed coffee, the ratio is often stated as about 5:1, but in Ethiopia it is usually about 6:1.6 A Colombian study measured 6.23:1 for washed coffee.1\n\nA conversion factor is the same idea used as a multiplier. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) turns parchment coffee into its green-coffee equivalent by multiplying its weight by 0.80, and dried cherry by multiplying by 0.50.5\n\n## Step by step in the washed process\n\nCenicafé, the Colombian coffee research centre, weighed coffee at every stage of washed processing in Caldas, Colombia. For selected ripe cherry harvested in 2005–2006, 100 kg of fresh cherry gave:1\n\n1. **Pulped coffee, still in its mucilage** – about 55 kg. The pulper removed about 43–44 kg of fresh pulp (44.02% of the fruit by weight; conversion factor 0.43).1\n2. **Washed coffee** – about 39 kg, after the mucilage was fermented off and washed away.1 Mucilage is about 13% of the cherry's weight.3 Washed coffee holds 52.7–53.5% moisture (basis not stated).2\n3. **Dry parchment coffee** – about 20 kg, dried to 10–12% moisture (wet basis).1,2 This step removes mostly water.\n4. **Green coffee** – about 16 kg, once the parchment is hulled off.1\n\n
\n
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Mass per 100 kg of fresh cherry. A: washed coffee, measured on selected ripe cherry in Colombia (2006). B: natural coffee, by the standard trade ratios. Bars are to scale of mass.1,2,3,5,6,11
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\n\nSo the washed chain loses about four-fifths of the cherry's weight before drying ends, and the last fifth of the parchment's weight at hulling.1 Specialty chains that sort hard lose more: five Ethiopian cooperatives worked at 8:1 or higher, up to 11:1, when producing specialty coffee.6\n\n## Natural, honey and pulped natural\n\n**Natural.** The whole cherry is dried, so the skin, pulp and mucilage leave only at hulling. The standard ratios are 3:1 from fresh to sun-dried cherry and 2:1 from dried cherry to clean coffee – 6:1 overall.6 The ICO factor for dried cherry, 0.50, says the same as the 2:1 ratio.5 Per 100 kg of fresh cherry, the standard ratios give about 33 kg of dried cherry and 17 kg of green coffee (our arithmetic). Freshly harvested coffee holds about 50–60% moisture (wet basis); safe storage needs 10–12%.11\n\n**Honey and pulped natural.** These start like the washed process: the pulp comes off. The mucilage, or part of it, stays on and dries with the parchment. Mucilage is about 13% of the cherry's fresh weight.3 No source opened for this entry measured how much of that mass stays on the dry parchment. None measured the cherry-to-green ratio of honey or pulped natural coffee either.\n\n## Arabica and robusta\n\nMeasured yields differ between the species, but the figures come from different studies, places and processes (see Open questions).\n\nA 2025 Brazilian study measured robusta cultivars in the Amazon region. On average, 100 kg of fresh fruit gave 24.68 kg of green coffee at 12% moisture.7 The best cultivar needed only 3.57 kg of fresh fruit per kg of green coffee.7 For washed arabica, the Colombian study found 6.23 kg.1\n\n## Calculating weight loss on drying\n\nDrying removes water but leaves the dry matter. So the mass after drying can be calculated from the moisture before and after.10 The moisture must be on a wet basis: water as a share of the whole wet mass.10\n\n- **Mass after drying:** m₂ = m₁ × (100 − M₁) ÷ (100 − M₂)10\n- **Water removed:** m₁ − m₂\n\nHere m₁ and m₂ are the masses before and after, and M₁ and M₂ the moisture contents in per cent (wet basis).\n\n**Example.** Cenicafé assumes 53% moisture (wet basis) for washed coffee entering the dryer and 11% for dry coffee. It states that the coffee is dry when its mass has fallen by 47.3%.2 The formula gives the same: 100 kg × (100 − 53) ÷ (100 − 11) = 52.8 kg, a fall of 47.2% (our arithmetic).\n\n\n\n## Reference values\n\nValues as reported. Moisture is wet basis where the source states it; \"n.s.\" means basis not stated. Cenicafé 2008 values are for Variedad Colombia from nine lots in Caldas, harvest 2005–2006; \"selected\" is ripe coffee separated from the harvest, \"unselected\" the harvest as it came.1\n\n| Parameter | Value reported | Conditions | Source |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Freshly harvested coffee, moisture | 50–60% (wb) | Depends on process and climate | Duque-Dussán et al.11 |\n| Pulp, share of fresh fruit | 44.02% (selected), 43.58% (unselected); 40% in the 1977 reference | Fresh weight | Cenicafé1 |\n| Pulp, share of fresh fruit | About 43% | Compilation | Feedipedia9 |\n| Mucilage, share | About 13% of the cherry; about 22% of pulped coffee | Fresh weight | Cenicafé3 |\n| Cherry : pulped coffee (in mucilage) | 1.81 (selected), 1.80 (unselected); 1.67 (1977) | Mass ratio | Cenicafé1 |\n| Cherry : washed coffee | 2.56, 2.46; 2.43 (1977) | Mass ratio | Cenicafé1 |\n| Cherry : dry parchment | 4.94, 4.89; 4.50 (1977) | Parchment dried to 11–12% (n.s.) | Cenicafé1 |\n| Cherry : dry parchment | 5.87 with classification at three points; 4.33 without any classification | Mean of lots, 2025 study | Arango-Cardona et al.4 |\n| Cherry : green coffee | 6.23 (both); 5.56 (1977) | Mass ratio; as a factor 0.16 (0.18 in 1977) | Cenicafé1 |\n| Bulk density, selected coffee (2006) | Fruit 622, fresh pulp 300, pulped coffee 827, washed 702, washed and drained 3 h 687, dry parchment 391, green 710 kg/m³ | Free fall, NTC 4607; 1977: 600, 270, 800, 650, –, 380, 680 | Cenicafé1 |\n| Dry parchment : green coffee | 1.25, 1.26; 1.25 (1977) | Factor 0.80, 0.79 | Cenicafé1 |\n| Hulling loss (merma en trilla) | 17.75%, 18.40%; 18.00% (1977) | Basis not given | Cenicafé1 |\n| Husk from hulling | 18 kg per 100 kg of dry parchment | Citing the 2008 study | Cenicafé2 |\n| Washed coffee, moisture | 52.7–53.5% (n.s.); 53% (wb) used for calculations | Before drying | Cenicafé2 |\n| Dry parchment, moisture | 10–12% (wb); 11% (wb) as the control value | End of drying | Cenicafé2 |\n| Mass loss in drying | 47.3% of the initial mass | Washed coffee, 53% → 11% (wb) | Cenicafé2 |\n| Standard ratios | Fresh → sun-dried cherry 3:1; dried cherry → clean coffee 2:1; parchment → green 1.25:1 | Trade conventions | Schuit et al.6 |\n| Fresh cherry : green (washed) | About 5:1 often stated; usually about 6:1 in Ethiopia | Trade conventions | Schuit et al.6 |\n| Specialty, fresh cherry : green | 8:1 or higher, up to 11:1 (about 9–12.5 kg per 100 kg, our arithmetic) | Five Ethiopian cooperatives, after the farm gate | Schuit et al.6 |\n| ICO factors to green coffee | Dried cherry × 0.50; parchment × 0.80 | Statistical rules | ICO5 |\n| Canephora outturn index | Mean 24.68%; cultivar means 22.51–27.96% | Natural, raised beds, corrected to 12% moisture; Amazon region | Sousa et al.7 |\n| Canephora field outturn index | 22.57% | Weighted for unripe fruit, taken as 19% outturn | Sousa et al.7 |\n| Canephora germplasm, earlier studies | 17.04% (ratio 5.87) to 31.25% | Cited by the 2025 study | Sousa et al.7 |\n| Colombian factor de rendimiento | Base line 92.8 kg (2008); reference value 94 (2025) | kg dry parchment per 70 kg excelso | Cenicafé1,4 |\n\n
\n
\n
Green coffee per 100 kg of fresh cherry, as measured or stated in the sources. Ratios are converted to kilograms per 100 kg (our arithmetic). The values come from different methods and are not directly comparable.1,6,7
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\n\n## Fresh weight and dry matter\n\nThe share of a fruit layer depends on the basis. Pulp is about 43–44% of the fresh fruit's weight,1,9 but only about 30% of its dry matter.8 Fresh pulp holds about 80% moisture (basis not stated),8 washed parchment coffee about 53% (wb),2 so the pulp's share shrinks on a dry basis.\n\nThe dry matter is also a check on measured ratios. In the Cenicafé data, 39.1 kg of washed coffee per 100 kg of cherry at 53% moisture holds 18.4 kg of dry matter; 20.2 kg of dry parchment at 11% holds 18.0 kg (our arithmetic from the ratios and moisture values1,2). From washed coffee onwards, almost all the mass lost is water.\n\n## Mass balance arithmetic\n\nAll formulas use moisture in per cent; m is mass.10 The wet and dry bases are explained under moisture and water activity.\n\n| Quantity | Formula | Note |\n|---|---|---|\n| Moisture, wet basis | Mwb = 100 × water ÷ (water + dry matter) | Trade convention |\n| Moisture, dry basis | Mdb = 100 × water ÷ dry matter | Used in sorption research |\n| Conversion | Mdb = 100 × Mwb ÷ (100 − Mwb) | |\n| Dry matter | mdry = m × (100 − Mwb) ÷ 100 | Unchanged by drying |\n| Mass after drying | m₂ = m₁ × (100 − M₁) ÷ (100 − M₂) | Wet basis only |\n| Water removed | m₁ − m₂ | |\n| Ratio to factor | factor = 1 ÷ ratio | 1.25:1 → 0.80 |\n| Mass at a reference moisture | mref = m × (100 − M) ÷ (100 − Mref) | Used to compare lots at 12% |\n\nThe FAO chapter illustrates the two bases with grain: if 100 kg of moist grain loses 20 kg of water on drying, it held 20% moisture on a wet basis and 25% on a dry basis.10 The Brazilian robusta study used the reference-moisture correction to express every sample at 12%.7\n\n## Worked examples\n\nEach example uses published inputs; the arithmetic is ours.\n\n1. **Wet to dry basis.** Washed coffee at 53% (wb)2 holds 53 kg of water and 47 kg of dry matter per 100 kg. On a dry basis that is 100 × 53 ÷ 47 = 112.8% – more water than dry matter.\n2. **Drying washed coffee.** 1,000 kg of washed coffee at 53% dried to 11% (wb)2: m₂ = 1,000 × 47 ÷ 89 = 528.1 kg of dry parchment. Water removed: 471.9 kg. Cenicafé's own figure from 280 kg of washed coffee is about 148 kg of dry parchment at 11%, the same proportion.2\n3. **Over-drying costs weight.** Drying the same 1,000 kg to 10% instead of 11% gives 1,000 × 47 ÷ 90 = 522.2 kg, 5.9 kg less. Cenicafé lists losses per 1,000 kg of washed coffee of 5.9, 8.8, 11.6, 14.4 and 17.5 kg of dry parchment at 10, 9.5, 9, 8.5 and 8% moisture.2 The table does not state the reference moisture; the formula, measured against drying to 11%, reproduces the first four and gives 17.2 kg for the last.\n4. **Cherry to green with factors.** 2,000 kg of selected ripe cherry × 0.20 = 400 kg of dry parchment; × 0.80 = 320 kg of green coffee. Cenicafé's direct factor from cherry to green, 0.16, gives the same 320 kg.1,5\n5. **Natural coffee by standard ratios.** 1,200 kg of fresh cherry ÷ 3 = 400 kg of dried cherry; × 0.50 = 200 kg of green coffee.5,6 By moisture alone, fruit at 60% dried to 12% (both wb) would weigh 1,200 × 40 ÷ 88 = 545 kg (see Open questions).\n6. **Colombian factor de rendimiento.** Excelso (kg) = dry parchment (kg) × 70 ÷ factor. At the reference factor of 94,4 940 kg of dry parchment gives 700 kg of excelso – ten 70 kg bags. At 104.7, the mean of unclassified lots in the 2025 study, it gives 628.5 kg.4\n7. **Correcting to a reference moisture.** A sample of 1.50 kg of green coffee at 14% moisture (wb) equals 1.50 × 86 ÷ 88 = 1.47 kg at 12% (wb), the reference used in the robusta study.7\n\n## Trade yield measures\n\n**ICO factors.** For its statistics, the ICO converts dried cherry to green coffee by multiplying by 0.50 and parchment coffee by multiplying by 0.80.5 The same rules convert roasted coffee with 1.19 and soluble coffee with 2.6.5\n\n**Colombia: factor de rendimiento.** In Colombia, dry parchment is valued by its milling yield, and a lower factor indicates higher quality and price.4 Cenicafé defines the rendimiento en trilla as the quantity of dry parchment coffee needed for a 70 kg bag of excelso.1 In 2008 the national base line for trade was 92.8 kg of dry parchment.1 A 2025 study gives the reference value as 94: 94 kg of dry parchment give 70 kg of excelso and 6.3 kg of pasilla.4 Pasilla is the defective fraction sorted out of the green coffee.1 Measured factors in 2008 were 90.75 for selected and 95.99 for unselected coffee.1 In 2025, the best value was 92.33 on the farm and 90.01 at Cenicafé's own processing plant.4\n\nExcelso and pasilla together make up 76.3 of the 94 kg, about 81% of the dry parchment (our arithmetic4). That is close to the factor of 0.80 for parchment.1,5\n\n**Volume measures.** Where harvests are counted in volume, bulk density converts volume to mass. At Cenicafé's 622 kg/m³ for fresh fruit, 1,000 L of cherry weigh about 622 kg (our arithmetic1). No official Brazilian reference for volume of field coffee per 60 kg bag was found in the sources opened for this entry, so none is given.\n\n## Bulk density along the chain\n\nBulk density – mass per volume of a heap, air gaps included – changes at every step. Cenicafé measured it by free fall (Colombian standard NTC 4607) for each state of the coffee.1 Pulped coffee in its mucilage is the densest heap, at 827 kg/m³; dry parchment the lightest coffee state, at 391 kg/m³.1\n\n
\n
\n
Bulk density at each stage of washed processing, Colombia: selected ripe coffee, 2006, with the 1977 reference values where given.1
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\n\nBulk density also shifts within a stage. In arabica parchment coffee dried in the laboratory, bulk density fell from 518.58 to 448.62 kg/m³ as the coffee dried; seeds without parchment did the opposite.12 Values from different methods differ, so compare only values measured the same way; see bean size and density.\n\n## Where the numbers vary\n\n- **Sorting.** In the 2025 Colombian study, classifying at three points (fruit by density before pulping, pulped coffee by size, parchment by density in washing) raised the ratio from 4.33 to 5.87 kg of cherry per kg of dry parchment.4 The classified lots also needed less parchment per bag: a factor of 97.22 against 104.7.4\n- **Ripeness.** The robusta study set the outturn of unripe fruit at 19%, and its field outturn index, which allows for unripe fruit, was 22.57% against 24.68% for the plain index.7\n- **Specialty grading.** Rejecting defects, mostly at the later stages, pushed the Ethiopian cooperatives to 8:1–11:1.6\n- **Final moisture.** Each point of over-drying costs weight that is sold by the kilogram (see example 3).2\n- **Reference basis.** A ratio means little without the moisture of the end product. The robusta study corrected to 12%;7 the Cenicafé ratios refer to parchment dried to 11–12%.1\n\n## Open questions\n\n- No source opened for this entry measured cherry-to-green ratios for honey or pulped natural coffee.\n- The standard 3:1 ratio from fresh to dried cherry6 is larger than a pure water balance predicts. Fruit at 50–60% moisture (wet basis)11 dried to 10–12% gives about 1.8–2.3:1 (1.76 for 50% → 12%, 2.25 for 60% → 10%; our arithmetic with the drying formula10); 3:1 would need fruit at about 70–71% moisture (wb), or losses beyond water. Which losses make up the gap is not shown in the sources opened.\n- How the 18% hulling loss and the 20% parchment share in the same Cenicafé table relate to each other is not explained in the source.1\n- Arabica and canephora were measured in different studies, places and processes. No study opened for this entry compared both species under one protocol.\n\n## Key studies\n\n
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Montilla-Pérez et al., 2008 – Physical properties and conversion factors. Cenicafé weighed selected and unselected Variedad Colombia coffee from nine lots in Caldas at every stage of washed processing. It updated the 1977 reference factors: 4.94 kg of cherry per kg of dry parchment and 6.23 per kg of green coffee, with bulk densities for every state.

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Cenicafé, Avances Técnicos 370 · biblioteca.cenicafe.org

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Arango-Cardona et al., 2025 – Economic losses in wet milling. Compared processing with and without classification at three points, and measured conversion and milling-yield factors. Sorting raised the cherry-to-parchment ratio but lowered the parchment needed per bag of excelso.

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Revista Cenicafé 76(2), e76203 · doi:10.38141/10778/76203

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Sousa et al., 2025 – Conversion ratios of Amazon robusta cultivars. Measured ripening time and the fresh-fruit-to-green outturn of robusta cultivars at three sites, with a correction to 12% moisture and a field index that allows for unripe fruit. The mean outturn was 24.68%.

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Revista Caatinga 38, e12571 · doi:10.1590/1983-21252025v3812571rc

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Schuit et al., 2021 – Specialty coffee economics in Ethiopia. Followed five cooperatives and set out the conversion ratios used along the chain: 3:1 and 2:1 for sun-dried coffee, 1.25:1 for parchment and about 6:1 overall. Specialty sorting raised the overall ratio to 8:1 or more.

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PeerJ 9, e10621 · doi:10.7717/peerj.10621

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