Green coffee

After harvesting and processing, the coffee beans are freed from pulp and parchment, sorted and usually shipped in sacks. These greenish-grey beans are hard, smell rather grassy and are not drinkable as coffee without roasting.

Green coffee keeps for many months if stored dry and cool, much longer than roasted coffee. Roasters therefore buy it as raw material and roast as needed. In Germany green coffee is not subject to coffee tax, which applies only to roasted coffee.