The main season for the coffee harvest varies from region to region and depends on the dry and rainy seasons: In Brazil, the coffee harvest takes place from May to September, in Central America from October to March, in Africa from October to April and in Asia from November to April.

The yield of a coffee tree can vary significantly, from around 2.5 to 10.5 kg of coffee cherries, which corresponds to around 0.5 to 2 kg of green beans (green coffee). Three main methods have been established for harvesting coffee: Picking, Stripping and Mechanical Harvesting.

“Picking” takes place when only the fully ripe coffee cherries are picked individually from the tree, while the unripe cherries are harvested in a subsequent picking. This method is gentler on the plants, but also much more time-consuming.

The average daily output of a picker is between 50 and 100 kg of coffee cherries, which corresponds to around 10 to 20 kg of green coffee. This hand-picked coffee will reach a significantly higher asking price than the average world market price, which is set on the New York Stock Exchange.

“Stripping”, on the other hand, involves tearing all the coffee cherries from the branches, regardless of their degree of ripeness.

This method is often used for Robusta coffee. The cherries fall onto cloths that are spread out on the ground.

“Mechanical Harvesting” is very similar to stripping, using special machines instead of human pickers. Subsequently, both methods require the unripe fruit to be sorted out and the cherries to be cleaned of dirt, twigs and leaves.

Mechanical Harvesting is particularly efficient on large, flat areas, such as those found on large coffee farms.

Dry Coffee Processing

Dry coffee processing means that the coffee cherries are dried until the beans can be removed from the husk without leaving any residue. During this process, the cherries are spread out on concrete or paved drying surfaces and turned regularly. After around three to five weeks, the water content of the cherries is reduced from the original 50-60% to around 12%. This particular state of dryness can be measured by the special rattling sound that the cherries make when shaken.

Wet Coffee Processing

When the wet processing method is employed, the coffee cherries are first soaked in tanks of fresh water which will make them swell. The cherries are then processed in ‘pulpers’ to remove the pulp. The remaining pulp is fermented in fermentation tanks, which takes 24 to 36 hours and shapes the flavour of the coffee. Over-fermentation can lead to poor quality coffee. After fermentation, the beans are either dried in the sun or by machine.

Before the coffee is dispatched to the destination country, it undergoes important processing steps. Firstly, the beans are hulled in special processing plants, where residues such as dried pulp and parchment husks are removed. The beans are then thoroughly cleaned and sorted according to size, density and colour. The shelled and sorted beans are then either packed into sacks or filled into containers as bulk goods and prepared for transport.

After the green beans have arrived at our premises, they are roasted with great care and passion by our experienced master roasters.

Our master roasters precisely control the temperatures and stop the roasting process at exactly the right moment to achieve the perfect balance. During roasting, the silver skin is also removed, which helps to improve the flavour, aroma and digestibility.