Harvesting

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Traditional and modern methods

The oldest and most traditional coffee cultivation system is the extensive system, still used in Central America and India: the coffee plants grow with other taller plants which shade them naturally from the direct sunlight. In the intensive model, used in Brazil, the coffee plants are tightly packed and require irrigation and mechanization systems.  This model requires a larger investment but yields higher productivity, and a greater impact on the environment.Blossoming depends on the rains, so flowers, ripe and unripe berries can be found on any one plant at the same time. This complicates harvesting, which is accomplished by either manual or mechanical methods.
 
Selective Picking
The best method of harvesting but also the most labor-intensive and time-consuming, selective picking requires workers to pass from plant to plant, handpicking only the ripe, bright red cherries, one by one.  Unripe green cherries are left on the tree for the next round of harvesting, and overripe ones fall to the ground naturally.  This method is commonly used in Central America, Ethiopia, Kenya, India and many other countries

Stripping
 A quicker but less accurate method of manual harvesting is called stripping.  Tree branches are “stripped” by hand from the stem outward and the fruits fall to the ground where they are caught by sheets.  In Brazil, stripping is feasible and cost-effective because the cherries mature more uniformly due to the predictable rainfall patterns.  Stripping is normally carried out when three-quarters of the crop is ripe, with green and over-ripe fruits separated and discarded. 

Mechanical Harvesting
This technique is used mainly in Brazil and Hawaii. Harvesting is carried out using various mechanical systems, all of which have the effect of vibrating the coffee tree branches to cause the fruit to fall.  As with the stripping method, ripe, green and overripe cherries are picked together and must be separated in a later stage.