<p>TL;DR Silver skin is recycled/re-purposed coffee skin also called <em>coffee chaff</em>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Before coffee beans are roasted they contain about 11% internal
  moisture, if you look at a green (unroasted) coffee bean next to a
  roasted one you will notice the green bean is much smaller and has a
  thin skin, called silverskin or chaff.</p>
  
  <p>The heat of the roasting process converts the internal moisture into
  steam causing the skin to heat up and the bean to expand. When
  roasting is completed the chaff falls off and is removed from the
  roaster. Like coffee, chaff contains a high nitrogen content which
  makes it a valuable product for environmental purposes, and each roast
  produces about 3.2 pounds of chaff. As part of our commitment to
  consciously great coffee we have found a way to recycle the chaff from
  every roast instead of tossing it into the dumpster. Since 2008 we
  have partnered with a company called Reconserve that converts bulk
  food waste materials into animal feed and who’s guiding philosophy is:
  recycle, reprocess, resource conservation. Reconserve picks the chaff
  up from our roasting facility in Sacramento, blends it with other
  bakery byproducts, and produces a feed supplement for dairy cows. We
  currently produce about 4,000 pounds of chaff each month, this means
  since 2008 we have recycled about 320,000 pounds of chaff into feed
  for cattle. We take our commitment to sustainability seriously and
  make sure that we are constantly evaluating every step of our process
  to see where we can make improvements. When you purchase ecoGrounds
  coffees we want you to know you are choosing a high quality coffee
  that has a positive impact on the environment and global community.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Source: <a href="http://www.ecogrounds.com/story/coffee-chaff" rel="nofollow">http://www.ecogrounds.com/story/coffee-chaff</a></p>

<p>Additional information on the patent below: <a href="http://www.google.com/patents/US7927460" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/patents/US7927460</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-09T00:53:16.857Z
Answer to the point, thank you! Readers, please make sure to checkout out @Chris_in_AK answer too, full of extra gems.
Eric Platon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-08T15:35:08.350Z
2016-03-09T00:54:45.043Z
2016-03-09T00:54:45.043Z
Geo
<p>Silver skin is the name generally used when it is still on the green beans.  This thin but tough layer is lightly colored (sometimes similarly to the paper product in your question) and mostly translucent.  It allows the green color of the bean underneath to be seen.  After roasting (when it begins to loosen and fall off) it is more properly called chaff.</p>

<p>Since the paper is likely made of chaff collected from the roasting process (easy to collect since nearly all roasters have a mechanism for separation) is actually an excellent reuse of chaff.  "Chaff paper" just doesn't have the same ring since generally chaff is thought to be a byproduct to be discarded.  </p>

<p>The silver skin is the innermost layer of the coffee cherry surrounding the pit/seed (green coffee bean).  It is a tough substance to remove and different processing techniques remove varying amounts (dry process coffee removes the least and dry process coffee produces the most chaff when roasting).  Roasting the coffee both dries the silver skin and causes it to split as the coffee bean expands, so it comes off fairly easily during the roasting process given some agitation.  </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-08T17:03:59.523Z
2016-03-08T17:03:59.523Z
Suspended User
<p>A coffee chain states that its paper napkins are made of "coffee silver skin":</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/oLcvQ.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/oLcvQ.jpg" alt="/Users/electreric/Downloads/shot- - 1.jpg"></a></p>

<p>The explanation on the right says it is "coffee bean skin"---the husk.</p>

<p>Searching the internet about it, I can just find about silver skin in meat.</p>

<p>Is there more to know about "coffee silver skin"? For example, I wonder if all or part of the husk is part of it, and also why the term is "silver" (this could be a different question---please comment or ask it yourself).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-08T16:52:52.327Z
Please also see: http://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/1689/light-colored-matter-clinging-to-roasted-coffee-beans/1690#1690.  Not quite a duplicate, but close.
Suspended User
<beans>
What is coffee silver skin?
Eric Platon
# What is coffee silver skin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-08)

A coffee chain states that its paper napkins are made of "coffee silver skin":

[![/Users/electreric/Downloads/shot- - 1.jpg](https://i.sstatic.net/oLcvQ.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/oLcvQ.jpg)

The explanation on the right says it is "coffee bean skin"---the husk.

Searching the internet about it, I can just find about silver skin in meat.

Is there more to know about "coffee silver skin"? For example, I wonder if all or part of the husk is part of it, and also why the term is "silver" (this could be a different question---please comment or ask it yourself).

**Tags:** beans

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Please also see: http://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/1689/light-colored-matter-clinging-to-roasted-coffee-beans/1690#1690.  Not quite a duplicate, but close.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-03-08. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

TL;DR Silver skin is recycled/re-purposed coffee skin also called *coffee chaff*.

> Before coffee beans are roasted they contain about 11% internal
> moisture, if you look at a green (unroasted) coffee bean next to a
> roasted one you will notice the green bean is much smaller and has a
> thin skin, called silverskin or chaff.
>
> The heat of the roasting process converts the internal moisture into
> steam causing the skin to heat up and the bean to expand. When
> roasting is completed the chaff falls off and is removed from the
> roaster. Like coffee, chaff contains a high nitrogen content which
> makes it a valuable product for environmental purposes, and each roast
> produces about 3.2 pounds of chaff. As part of our commitment to
> consciously great coffee we have found a way to recycle the chaff from
> every roast instead of tossing it into the dumpster. Since 2008 we
> have partnered with a company called Reconserve that converts bulk
> food waste materials into animal feed and who’s guiding philosophy is:
> recycle, reprocess, resource conservation. Reconserve picks the chaff
> up from our roasting facility in Sacramento, blends it with other
> bakery byproducts, and produces a feed supplement for dairy cows. We
> currently produce about 4,000 pounds of chaff each month, this means
> since 2008 we have recycled about 320,000 pounds of chaff into feed
> for cattle. We take our commitment to sustainability seriously and
> make sure that we are constantly evaluating every step of our process
> to see where we can make improvements. When you purchase ecoGrounds
> coffees we want you to know you are choosing a high quality coffee
> that has a positive impact on the environment and global community.

Source: <http://www.ecogrounds.com/story/coffee-chaff>

Additional information on the patent below: <http://www.google.com/patents/US7927460>

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Answer to the point, thank you! Readers, please make sure to checkout out @Chris_in_AK answer too, full of extra gems.  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-03-08. Score: 5

Silver skin is the name generally used when it is still on the green beans. This thin but tough layer is lightly colored (sometimes similarly to the paper product in your question) and mostly translucent. It allows the green color of the bean underneath to be seen. After roasting (when it begins to loosen and fall off) it is more properly called chaff.

Since the paper is likely made of chaff collected from the roasting process (easy to collect since nearly all roasters have a mechanism for separation) is actually an excellent reuse of chaff. "Chaff paper" just doesn't have the same ring since generally chaff is thought to be a byproduct to be discarded.

The silver skin is the innermost layer of the coffee cherry surrounding the pit/seed (green coffee bean). It is a tough substance to remove and different processing techniques remove varying amounts (dry process coffee removes the least and dry process coffee produces the most chaff when roasting). Roasting the coffee both dries the silver skin and causes it to split as the coffee bean expands, so it comes off fairly easily during the roasting process given some agitation.


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