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First paragraph: Coffee is a unique agricultural commodity. Because of the many successive layers enclosing the seed, its drying characteristics are different from those of other agricultural products such as cereals and oilseeds. The outermost layer of a ripe coffee cherry is a thin pericarp or skin, which covers the pulp or fibrous fruit flesh. Next there is a layer of mucilage, approximately 0.8-mm thick, which is translucent and colorless. The mucilage has no definite cellular structure and resembles an amorphous gel. Then, there is a thin yellowish parchment layer or endocarp and, finally, a silver skin covering the green coffee seed [1]. Thus, the processes involving heat and mass transfer are different in coffee in the whole-fruit form than in other crops like wheat, soybeans, and maize, which have remarkably different seed structures.