Harvesting
We are harvesting
5 to 6 months once a year. During this time, we make sure to pick only the ripe, dark red colored coffee cherries and we are picking them in the traditional way – by hand.
To pick and select each coffee cherry by hand is one of the secrets for achieving the best coffee quality. At the same time, we make sure that our plants are not injured during the process. In order to pick the cherries in this particular way we use a special technique that has been passed on from generation to generation in our ranch.
During the harvest, we pick the dark red coffee cherries every day at different hillsides of the ranch.
Our picked coffee is then processed within a few hours to ensure high quality.
The first process called ‘wet process’ takes out the pulp of the coffee cherries and leaves us with the actual coffee beans. These are then fermented in a controlled environment, washed and sun dried for several days until the beans reach a humidity level of about 11%. As soon as the coffee beans are dried, the second process called ‘dry process’ takes place where we peel the parchment skin off the coffee beans, then we sort them by weight, size, and at last we select by hand the best coffee beans for exporting.
Part of our coffee remains with us and is handed over to the families who live and work with us at the ranch. In this way, they can roast their ranch coffee and enjoy it daily during the whole year.