The harvesting period varies from region to region, coffee tree to coffee tree, because not all of the berries ripen to maturity at the same time.
The harvesting period may take several weeks and demand tremendous labor costs.
There are two systems employed in harvesting – “picking” and “stripping”.
- Picking ensures a perfectly uniform, top quality harvest, as trained pickers expertly select only mature berries – one by one. Pickers of quality coffees must return to the same tree, time after time, to pick more berries as they ripen.
- Tripping is used in some countries where plantations are vast and labor costs are high. This economical, labor saving method is definitely faster; borrower, it results in a harvest of lesser quality beans, since unripe and overripe berries are savagely plucked by machines along with the mature ones. A striped harvest is usually rife with all sorts of impurities, such as leaves, stones and unripe and rotten berries.
Once the berries are harvested, they are transported for the preparation and processing of the beans.
Harvesting of Coffee Beans
