The picking of coffee beans coffee beans are the seeds of coffee trees.

Coffee beans are the seeds of coffee trees. After three to four years of growth, coffee trees mature and begin to bear fruit, one fruit after another arranged in clusters or clusters along the branches. The seed is covered with a peel that can be picked as soon as it turns red. Below the red skin (exocarp) is a layer of flesh (mesocarp), inside which is a small thin layer, and further inside is a layer of parchment-like material-endocarp. Inside all these skins there are usually two flat opposed beans with a thin film or skin on the outside.

Most Arabica beans mature in June to August, and Robett beans mature in September to October. Therefore, although in some countries where the dry and wet seasons are not obvious, such as Colombia and Kenya, there are two flowering times a year, that is, there are two harvests, but strictly speaking, there is only one year.

Harvest times vary from region to region. Areas north of the equator (such as Ethiopia and Central America) generally harvest once in September and November. South of the equator, in areas such as Brazil and Zimbabwe, the main harvest occurs in April or May, although it can last until August. Equatorial countries, such as Uganda and Colombia, harvest year-round, especially plantations that exploit a variety of altitudes. As a result, coffee beans may be newly harvested most of the year.

As far as picking itself is concerned, there are two ways: bulk picking, which means that all the beans are picked in one trip through the garden, and selective picking, which means that several trips between the trees are made at intervals of 8-10 days and only the ripe red berries are picked. Selective picking is more expensive and labour-intensive than piecing, and is generally used only for arabica beans, especially those that need to be washed.

The amount of coffee beans picked depends on many factors, most notably the height of the trees and the layout of the farm or plantation. On average, each picker can pick 50-100 kilograms a day. But only 20% of that weight is real coffee beans, so the average picker can only pick 10-20 kilograms of coffee beans. Coffee beans are packed in bags with a standard weight of 45-60 kg. Therefore, it takes a worker 3-6 days to fill a bag.