There are three methods: picking (selective hand-harvesting of ripe cherries only), stripping (stripping all cherries off a branch), and machine harvesting. Picking delivers the highest quality.

How Is Coffee Harvested?

There are three methods: picking (selective hand-harvesting of ripe cherries only), stripping (stripping all cherries off a branch), and machine harvesting. Picking delivers the highest quality.

Why that matters

The harvesting method directly affects coffee quality, because not all cherries on a branch ripen at the same time. Green, yellow, and red cherries hang side by side on the same limb. Only the fully red ones (yellow or orange in some varieties) are ripe and deliver optimal flavour.

With picking, workers individually select ripe cherries and leave unripe ones on the branch. They return multiple times during the same season — three to five passes are typical. This is extremely labour-intensive and expensive but produces the most consistent quality. In specialty coffee, picking is the standard, especially in highland regions of Colombia, Kenya, and Ethiopia where steep slopes preclude machines.

Stripping is faster: all cherries on a branch are stripped off in one motion, regardless of ripeness. Sorting happens afterwards, often in water tanks — ripe cherries sink, unripe ones float. This saves labour, but some proportion of unripe cherries still gets through. Stripping is common in Brazil and parts of Indonesia.

Machine harvesting works like stripping but via shaking machines. Large, flat plantations — mainly in Brazil — are harvested this way. The machine shakes the tree and everything falls off. Quality is lower than with picking, but costs are a fraction. Efficient for mass production, unsuitable for specialty coffee.

At Green Wall Coffee

The coffees we serve at Sophienstraße 27 in Berlin-Lichtenberg come exclusively from selective hand-picking. That’s one reason they cost more than supermarket coffee — and why they taste better. At the counter, I like to explain: every cherry in your cup was picked individually, by hand. You can tell.

Related Questions

• What is the difference between picking, stripping, and machine harvesting?
• When is coffee harvest season?
• What is washed processing?

More depth on this topic in the article How to Make Perfect Espresso. Or stop by at Sophienstraße 27 — Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 10am–5pm.