E for the important coffee harvest

How is coffee harvested?

The coffee harvest is an important process in the coffee industry that ensures the beans are harvested for the morning. The harvest time depends on the coffee tree and the climate in which it grows. In most coffee-producing countries, the harvest takes place between November and May. Coffee trees produce fruits that contain coffee beans. These fruits are usually green but turn red when ripe. There are two main methods of harvesting coffee beans: Hand picking and mechanical picking.

In hand-picking, ripe fruit is picked by hand by the harvester. This is the traditional method and is mainly used on small plantations. Harvesters move from tree to tree, picking ripe fruit and sorting out unripe fruit at the same time. This is a laborious and time-consuming task that requires a lot of patience and experience. Mechanical harvesting, on the other hand, is mainly used in large plantations. Here, a machine is used to shake or cut the fruit from the tree. The machine then sorts the fruit according to ripeness and separates the beans from the fruit. Mechanical harvesting is faster and less labor-intensive than manual harvesting, but has the disadvantage that unripe berries and even small twigs are picked, which can affect the quality of the coffee.

After harvesting, coffee beans must be dried to reduce the moisture content. This is done either by sun drying or mechanical drying. Sun drying is a traditional method that is mainly used in countries with a dry climate. The beans are spread out on mats or roofs and dried in the sun.