Der Rohkaffee hat einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt.

Rohkaffee means raw coffee or green coffee, meaning coffee beans before they are roasted.

In context, it usually refers to the unroasted beans used in the coffee trade and production process. So this is not coffee you drink directly, but coffee in its earlier processing stage.

It is a compound noun:

• roh = raw
• Kaffee = coffee

So Rohkaffee literally means raw coffee.

Because Kaffee is a masculine noun in German, and the compound keeps the gender of the final main noun.

• der Kaffee
• therefore: der Rohkaffee

This is a very common rule with German compound nouns: the last part usually determines the gender.

Examples:

• der Kaffee
• der Rohkaffee
• der Bohnenkaffee

Hat is the 3rd person singular form of haben = to have.

The subject is Der Rohkaffee, which is grammatically singular, so German uses:

• ich habe
• du hast
• er/sie/es hat

So:

• Der Rohkaffee hat ... = The raw coffee has ...

Because hat takes a direct object, and the direct object here is in the accusative case.

The object is:

• einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt

The noun Feuchtigkeitsgehalt is masculine:

• nominative: der Feuchtigkeitsgehalt
• accusative: den Feuchtigkeitsgehalt

With the indefinite article, masculine accusative becomes:

• ein → einen

So:

• ein hoher Feuchtigkeitsgehalt = a high moisture content (subject form / nominative)
• einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt = a high moisture content (object form / accusative)

Because the adjective must match the noun’s case, gender, and article pattern.

Here we have:

• einen = masculine accusative indefinite article
• Feuchtigkeitsgehalt = masculine singular
• therefore the adjective takes the ending -en

So:

• einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt

Compare:

• ein hoher Feuchtigkeitsgehalt = nominative masculine
• einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt = accusative masculine

This is a very common pattern:

• ein großer Hund
• ich sehe einen großen Hund

Feuchtigkeitsgehalt means moisture content.

It is another compound noun:

• Feuchtigkeit = moisture, dampness
• Gehalt = content, amount, concentration

So literally it means something like moisture amount/content.

German often builds technical vocabulary this way by combining nouns into one long word.

German main clauses normally put the finite verb in second position.

Here the sentence structure is:

1. Der Rohkaffee = subject
2. hat = finite verb
3. einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt = object

So this is standard German word order:

• Subject + verb + object

You could also move another element to the front, but then the verb would still stay second:

• Einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt hat der Rohkaffee.

That version is possible, but the original sentence is the most neutral and natural.

Here Rohkaffee is being used like a mass noun, similar to coffee in English.

So Der Rohkaffee means something like:

• raw coffee as a material/product
• unroasted coffee in general

That is why singular is natural here.

A plural can exist in some contexts, but it would be less common and would usually refer to different kinds or batches. In this sentence, singular is the normal choice.

Yes, grammatically you could say that, but it means something slightly different and is less precise.

• Der Rohkaffee ist feucht. = The raw coffee is moist/damp.
• Der Rohkaffee hat einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt. = The raw coffee has a high moisture content.

The original sentence sounds more technical and scientific, because Feuchtigkeitsgehalt is a precise measurement-type term. So it is a better choice in professional, agricultural, or industrial contexts.

Often they refer to the same thing: unroasted coffee beans.

But there can be a slight difference in tone:

• Rohkaffee sounds more technical/industry-specific
• grüner Kaffee or Grünkaffee may be used more descriptively, especially because unroasted beans are often called green coffee

In many contexts, though, they overlap a lot.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

dehr ROH-kah-fay hat EYE-nen HOH-en FOYK-tig-kites-ge-halt

A few helpful notes:

• der sounds roughly like dehr
• Roh has a long o sound
• Kaffee is pronounced kah-FAY
• eu in Feuchtigkeit sounds like oy
• Gehalt has the stress on the second syllable: ge-HALT

In everyday casual speech, people might prefer a simpler expression depending on context, such as:

• Der Kaffee ist noch zu feucht.
• Der Kaffee enthält noch viel Feuchtigkeit.

But Feuchtigkeitsgehalt is perfectly normal in formal, technical, or scientific German. It is especially common in writing, product descriptions, lab contexts, agriculture, and manufacturing.

A very useful pattern is:

[Subject] + hat + [accusative object]

Examples:

• Der Wein hat einen hohen Säuregehalt. = The wine has a high acid content.
• Die Milch hat einen hohen Fettgehalt. = The milk has a high fat content.
• Das Produkt hat eine lange Haltbarkeit. = The product has a long shelf life.

So your sentence follows a common and reusable structure:

• Der Rohkaffee hat einen hohen Feuchtigkeitsgehalt.