
How Our Premium Coffee Is Harvested
The journey from coffee cherry to coffee bean is a fascinating transformation. Our cherries are handpicked from our farmer's coffee trees. Then the cherries undergo meticulous processing to unlock the flavors and aromas we cherish in our daily brews. Each processing method adds its own layer of character to the coffee, influencing everything from its brightness and body to its sweetness and complexity.
Let’s explore how coffee cherries are transformed into the beans that fuel our mornings. Up first is how our premium coffee beans are harvested.
The process begins with harvesting only the best, ripe cherries which is typically done by hand. This is done to ensure that only the ripest are selected. The first step in hand-picking is identifying the cherries that have reached their peak ripeness. Coffee cherries typically change from a green to yellow and finally to a deep red or purple when they’re ripe. To be sure, the texture of the cherries is checked. Ripe cherries have a firm, yet slightly soft feel when gently squeezed. The skin should be plump, indicating it’s full of sugars and ready to be processed. Pickers look for cherries that are uniformly ripe on each branch to ensure that the harvested cherries are of similar quality, too.
In fact, experienced pickers may even choose to taste a cherry to check its sweetness. Ripe cherries have a naturally sweet, complex flavor that will translate into a balanced, flavorful cup of coffee. An extra harvest may also need to be done when pickers leave unripe cherries on the tree, as these will either lack the full flavor profile or develop undesirable tastes such as sourness or bitterness. Overripe cherries are generally discarded as they will sour the batch.
Once a cherry is plucked, it must be handled with care. Ripe cherries are delicate, and bruising or crushing them can cause damage to the bean inside. Skilled pickers avoid squeezing the cherries too hard and gently place them in baskets to prevent damage. The better the handling during harvesting, the fewer defects will be present in the final coffee beans. This is important because any damage to the cherries can result in off-flavors and defects that affect the quality of the coffee.