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Post-HarvestStarter7 min read
Sun drying that protects your grade
From 55% moisture to 7.5% in five to seven days - on raised tables, turned hourly, covered at night and before rain.
Drying finishes what fermentation started. The target is 7.5% moisture - dry enough to store without mould, moist enough not to shatter. In Liberian humidity this takes five to seven days of honest sun on raised tables.
Rules that hold grade
- Dry on raised mesh tables, never on bare ground or road tar - beans absorb smells and pick up stones and off-flavours.
- Spread 3-4 cm deep; rake every hour so every bean sees sun.
- Cover before rain and at dusk; night dew re-wets beans.
- No smoke anywhere near the tables - smoked beans are rejected by inspectors.
- Bite test: a properly dried bean cracks; a leathery bend means another day.
Store dried beans in clean jute sacks on pallets, off the wall, never with fuel, cement or pepper. A dry bean can wait weeks for a good price; a wet bean cannot wait at all.