Germinated seeds of the coffee tree are the basic
raw materials for coffee cultivation.
These seeds usually are sourced from the same estate or from
neighbouring estates, which enjoy the same climatic conditions
suited to the particular species grown on the plantation.
The seedlings are raised in nurseries and, when they are about a
year old, they are transplanted into the main plantation on the
estate. After 5 years of nurturing they eventually begin to produce
fruit known as coffee ‘cherries’ – so called because of the lovely
cherry-red colour when ripe. They can continue to produce a
bountiful crop for 25 years.
harvesting problems
The coffee tree is rather unusual in that it can have several
stages of fruit production on each branch – from blossom to the
ripe cherry. This makes harvesting difficult as it is not simply a
matter of using automatic stripping machines when the fruit is
ripe. The flowers of the coffee plant are white and star-shaped and
are quite similar to the flowers of the Jasmine tree, both in
fragrance and appearance. It takes about 9 months for the blossom
to turn into a ripe cherry, ready for harvesting.
Coffee trees can't thrive in weather extremes - that is a climate
that is too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry. Whilst they need
direct sunlight, they don’t like more than a few hours a day -
about two hours a day is ideal – so they must also have some shade.
Wild coffee trees in Ethiopia grow in rain-forest mountains, where
there are taller trees around them to shelter them from the sun's
burning rays. Coffee plantations try to mimic those conditions by
having fruit trees planted between the coffee trees to provide
shade, and an alternative crop. Usually, however, they are planted
on hillsides that only receive a few hours of sun each day.
On some major coffee producing estates – particularly in Brazil –
automatic harvesting machines are employed when the crop has been
estimated to have achieved some 75% of ripe cherries (the most it
is ever likely to be). In most parts of the coffee producing world,
the cherries are hand picked – plucking only the ripe red cherries
and leaving the unripe fruit to be gathered at a later
stage.