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The short answer: coffee beans are harvested by picking the ripe red fruit, called coffee cherries, from the coffee plant. On most speciality farms people pick by hand, choosing only ripe cherries and returning to each tree every 8 to 10 days. On big flat farms, such as many in Brazil, machines or strip picking take everything off the branch in one go.
After picking, farms process the cherries straight away to get the seeds out, and those seeds are the coffee beans you grind at home. This guide explains each harvesting method, when the harvest happens around the world and why it matters for the coffee in your cup.
If you are here because you want beans that were picked with care, our guide to the best coffee beans for espresso in the UK compares speciality options from UK roasters.
How are coffee beans harvested, step by step?
A coffee plant usually flowers three to four years after planting. The first useful harvest comes at around five years, and each cherry then takes roughly eight months to ripen after the flower appears, according to the coffee production entry on Wikipedia.
Cherries on one branch rarely ripen together, so the harvest is a balancing act. Pick too early and the beans taste grassy and sour. Leave it too late and overripe fruit can spoil. That is why farms choose between two main ways of getting coffee beans harvested.
1. Selective picking by hand
With selective picking, pickers take only the cherries at peak ripeness and leave the green ones to ripen. They then rotate around the trees every 8 to 10 days, so pickers work through a single plot several times in one season. The National Coffee Association’s guide to the life cycle of coffee notes that this method costs more and that farms use it mainly for premium arabica.
Selective picking takes a lot of skilled labour, but it gives the most even, sweet and clean-tasting coffee. Farms pick much of the speciality coffee that UK roasters sell this way, especially from steep hillside farms where machines cannot go.
2. Strip picking
Strip picking removes every cherry from a branch at once, ripe or not. Pickers usually lay a sheet on the ground, grip the branch near the trunk and pull outwards so the fruit drops. Pickers then gather up the cherries and bag them.
It is much faster and cheaper than selective picking. However, the harvest mixes ripe, unripe and overripe fruit, so the beans need careful sorting afterwards. Since farms keep the costlier selective method mainly for premium arabica, strip picking handles much of the coffee grown for volume.
3. Machine harvesting
In places like Brazil, the coffee fields are huge and fairly flat, so larger farms use machines. These harvesters drive along the rows and shake the cherries off the plants. Because the machine cannot judge ripeness, farms usually time the pass for when most of the fruit is ripe and then sort the cherries afterwards.
Mechanical harvesting is one reason Brazil can grow so much coffee. Our guide to where coffee beans come from shows just how far ahead of other countries it is.
Selective picking vs strip picking vs machines
Each method trades cost against quality. Here is how they compare.
| Method | How it works | Speed and cost | Typical coffee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selective picking | Ripe cherries picked one by one, trees revisited every 8 to 10 days | Slowest, most expensive | Speciality arabica |
| Strip picking | Whole branch stripped by hand in one go | Fast, cheaper | Commercial coffee grown for volume |
| Machine harvesting | Harvester shakes cherries off the plants | Fastest on large flat farms | Large Brazilian farms |
When are coffee beans harvested?
Most coffee countries have one main harvest a year. Colombia and Kenya are well-known exceptions, each with a main crop and a smaller second crop (called the mitaca in Colombia and the fly crop in Kenya). Because growers sit on both sides of the equator, someone somewhere is picking coffee in every month of the year.
| Country | Main harvest |
|---|---|
| Brazil | May to September |
| Colombia | September to mid-January, plus the mitaca in April to June |
| Ethiopia | October to January |
| Kenya | October to January, with a smaller fly crop from May to July |
| Rwanda | April to July |
| Guatemala | November to April |
| Vietnam | October to January |
These dates come from Mercanta’s coffee seasonality guide, and they shift a little each year with the weather. Green coffee also needs time to be processed, rested and shipped. So a fresh crop usually reaches UK roasters a few months after picking, which is why single origins on roasters’ shelves change through the year.
What happens to coffee cherries after harvest?
Picked cherries spoil quickly, so farms process them as soon as possible. Processing removes the fruit and dries the seeds, and the method has a big effect on flavour.
There are three main routes. Washed coffees lose their fruit before drying, which tends to give a clean, bright cup. Natural coffees dry inside the whole cherry, often on patios or raised beds, and pick up fruity sweetness. Honey process sits in between, with some of the sticky fruit left on during drying.
Once dry, mills hull, sort and grade the beans, and exporters then ship them as green coffee. UK roasters roast them here, and our guide to coffee roast levels picks up the story from there.
Does the way coffee beans are harvested affect the taste?
Yes, quite a lot. Ripe cherries hold the most sugar, so a careful hand harvest gives a sweeter, cleaner and more consistent cup. By contrast, unripe beans that slip through strip picking or machine harvesting can add sour, grassy or astringent flavours unless someone sorts them out.
This is one reason speciality coffee costs more than supermarket coffee: the extra labour of picking only ripe fruit shows up in the price and in the cup.
Some importers also support farmers directly at harvest time. 200 Degrees says its Bankilal coffee comes from the Altos de Chiapas region of Mexico. According to the roaster, its importer has field technicians who train local farmers in harvest and post-harvest practices, and the coffee grows under shade trees.
Check Bankilal, Mexico at 200 Degrees
If you want to taste different harvests through the year, the 200 Degrees Discovery subscription sends a changing selection of limited edition single origins from seasonal harvests, according to the roaster.
Check the Discovery Subscription at 200 Degrees
FAQ: how coffee beans are harvested
Are coffee beans harvested by hand?
Much of the world’s coffee is, especially speciality arabica grown on hillsides. Large flat farms, such as many in Brazil, use machines instead.
How many times a year are coffee beans harvested?
Usually once. Colombia and Kenya also have a smaller second crop, so many of their farms pick twice in a year.
How long before a new coffee plant can be harvested?
A coffee plant usually flowers three to four years after planting, and the first useful harvest comes at around five years.
What colour are coffee cherries when they are ripe?
Most varieties turn deep red when ripe, although some ripen yellow or orange. Green cherries are unripe and should stay on the branch.
How long do harvested coffee beans stay fresh?
Green beans keep for months before roasting. Once roasted, they are at their best for a few weeks, as our 15-15-15 coffee rule guide explains.
How many beans does one cup need?
More than you might think, given each cherry holds just two seeds. Our guide to coffee beans per cup works through the numbers.
Bottom line
Coffee beans are harvested by picking ripe coffee cherries, either by hand one at a time, by stripping whole branches or by machine on large flat farms. Hand picking takes longer but gives sweeter, cleaner coffee, and the harvest month depends on the country. Brazilian Love Affair from 200 Degrees is our everyday coffee and our favourite from the roaster. 200 Degrees describes it as its signature espresso blend, a medium roast with plenty of body and a strong, bold finish.
Check Brazilian Love Affair at 200 Degrees
Featured photo: Saddymonster, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
