The Culture of Coffee Harvesting

Coffee is harvested when the coffee cherries are bright red, glossy, and firm.  Coffee cherries can be harvested in three different ways: (1) hand-harvesting, (2) machine-harvesting, or (3) stripped from the coffee tree with both unripe and overripe cherries.  

Hand-Harvesting

Hand-harvesting coffee in Bolivia

Hand-harvesting allows farmers to harvest one coffee tree repeatedly as beans are harvested one at a time.  Each coffee cherry is carefully removed without disturbing the remaining unripe fruit on the branch. Under-ripe as well as over ripe fruit can impact the taste of the coffee.  Hand-picking allows the under ripe fruit to remain on the tree for picking later in the season.

Some estimates suggest coffee pickers can pick between 100 and 200 pounds of coffee cherries each day.  Only 20% of that weight, however, is the actual coffee bean.  Hand-harvesting is more expensive than other methods because it is labor-intensive and is used primarily with Arabica beans which are grown in mountain plantations.

Coffee Shaker Fingers

Mechanical Harvesting

Mechanical harvesting uses a flexible wide-tooth comb as a rake to pick the coffee fruit from the branches. In the shaker method, a machine shakes the trunk, making the ripe fruit    fall off of the branches.

Stripping Method

The stripping method uses one stroke to harvest all coffee fruits on the branch , despite their stage of development - green, yellow, red, or black. Leaves and other matter often fall off with the fruits. Branches can be stripped either by hand or by machine, but in either case, the coffee cherries are stripped from the branch at the same time, resulting in only one harvest per season.

NEXT: Processing the Coffee Beans

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