First, let’s define faith. As defined in God’s Word, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Now, let’s consider coffee. Did you know that a coffee bean comes from a berry? In fact, as a berry it has no real value for consumption. So how did brewed coffee ever come to mind? Interesting as one must have had faith to consider something that wasn’t known (seen) but considered the product (substance) and brought forth the vision. There are two processes in which the coffee bean can be processed from the berry; dry-process or wet-process.
The dry process involves picking the berry from the tree and letting it sit out in the sun and “drying” out, much like a raisin. At this point, the berry is very carefully “crackled” down to the bean. Once the bean remains it is now time to be roasted.
In the wet process, the berry is picked from the tree and put into water and the outer skin is “washed” away until only the bean remains. Once washed and cleansed the bean is now ready to be roasted.
To roast the bean it must be put through the fire, tried and refined. The outer skin of the bean still has chaff (regardless of dry or wet processing). It is not until the “first crack” that the chaff will start to become light and fall off the bean. Chaff is the thin layer of hardness covering the bean. Consider chaff to be like the hardness of your heart. Though many cannot see it, there are small layers not seen until tried in the fire of trials in your life. As the coffee bean is tried through the fire the chaff begins to become light and flakes off the bean. As the roasting process continues it becomes fruitful, however, to drink (or brew) this coffee bean is still not in its complete form.
Now that the bean has flavor because the chaff is removed and fire has brought out its origin, it can be broken down into a substance to be consumed. Without this process a “green coffee bean” would only be bitter tasting and have no value. But the roasted been must be ground in order to be brewed. Once ground, the bean can then be combined with water and consumed with much flavor.
Again, how did someone conceive the idea to say “let’s take a seed from a berry, roast it, crush it, and then combine with water for a refreshing taste!” So ponder how without faith, you wouldn’t have been able to enjoy your fresh cup of coffee today.
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