About Coffee - Processing

The timing of the harvest is a key factor in producing a satisfying cup of specialty coffee. This commonly happens during the dry season when the coffee cherries are close to uniformly-ripe. Unripe cherries will produce a thin/grassy cup and overripe cherries add fermented notes. Only around 20% of the coffee harvested is ready to be processed and exported! One branch from a coffee plant can contain a mixture of ripe/unripe/overripe cherries. Skillful handpicking is an important aspect of small farms. Larger farms use mechanical harvesters which require implementing additional sorting methods that are largely wasteful. Think of how many pounds of coffee you've consumed this year. One Arabica coffee plant produces around one pound of roasted coffee! That's a lot of plants!