Harvesting Coffee (#)

  „To maximize the amount of ripe coffee harvested it is necessary to selectively pick the ripe beans from the tree by hand and leave behind unripe, green beans to be harvested at a later time.  In Brazil, harvesting the same tree several times is more cost prohibitive than separating and discarding the unripe or overripe cherries.  Therefore, Brazil typically harvests using the stripping method when 75% of the crop is perfectly ripe.  Stripping is feasible and cost effective in Brazil due to the uniform maturation of Brazilian coffees.  In stripping the beans are pulled from the tree and fall to the ground where they are caught by sheets.  The beans are removed from tree debris by tossing the coffee in the air allowing the wind to carry away sticks and leaves.  The coffee is then put in 60 L green baskets, which is the tool are measurement used by coffee producers to determine wages.  Some estates, such as Fazenda Monte Alegre in Sul de Minas Brazil, have a computerized system to determine wages, which accounts for the amount of coffee collected from each person, the difficulty of the harvesting conditions, and the production of the region being harvested.“

http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/ harvesting.htm - Cached

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Some slightly related:

Processing Coffee

  „Irrespective of the harvesting method, green coffee beans and overripe coffee cherries inevitably end up mixed with the perfectly ripe cherries and must be separated.  Overripe coffee cherries, undeveloped coffee cherries, sticks and leaves float in water.  Ripe coffee beans and green coffee cherries are dense and sink.  Therefore, the first separation step takes place by separating the floaters from the sinkers.  The floaters are usually sent directly to the patio to be dried and are then slated for internal consumption.  The ripe and green cherries can be sent to the patios to be dried using the natural (dry) process or can be sent to the pulping machines.“

http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/ processing.htm - Cached

Specialty Coffee Bulletin Board :: View topic - C-Member Homecoming and Open House

  „Chuck takes "civilians" there on coffee plantation tours and has them pick their own coffee cherries before their first breakfast. He says picking the ripe cherries from the unripe ones on the same branch is a skilled task, and no one ever looks at a cup of coffee the same way after doing this. One of his best quotes came when someone asked what ha“

http://www.scaa.org/.../ viewtopic.php?p=280&sid=1711e5ad3a2523b9f03e3129a54899b3 - Cached

Coffee Glossary

  „A taste taint giving coffee brew a pronounced peanutty flavor. Result of the presence of light colored, underdeveloped, roasted coffee beans. Caused by picking unripe, green, coffee cherries during harvesting.“

http://www.lucidcafe.com/glossary.html - Cached

- Coffee Science Information Centre

  „The coffee tree is a tropical evergreen shrub (genus Coffea), and two beans are generally contained in each fruit, which when ripe resembles a red cherry. The two most commercially important species grown are varieties of Coffea canephora (robustas) and Coffea arabica (arabicas). The latter grows at higher altitudes, requires less rain, and its beans have a lower caffeine content than that of robustas.“

http://www.cosic.org/background-on-coffee/ coffee-production - Cached

The Coffee Mill (INeedCoffee.com)

  „Without optimum conditions, mills typically do not invest in infrastructure. For instance, there is no selective harvesting of the beans, and a tendency to mix coffee grains (unripe beans with green coffee beans). Also, inappropriate handling of beans when drying, or heaping the coffee beans, causes fermentation and eventually mold. This results in bitter coffee.“

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/03/coffeemill/ - Cached

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