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Sustainability
As Liam Worsley moves on in the coffee Cafeology
Harvesting coffee
process he has now integrated into Roberto
Mata’s farm.
Roberto’s coffee is harvested over 3 months towards the tip). Using both
(January to March). Harvesting 4000 trees per hands, they roll the cherries
hectare, over 50 hectares, across 5 different off the branches with their
farms is not easy. This is exacerbated because thumbs into their hands until
the farms are atop/on the side of mountains they drop a handful into a

and the cherries need to be hand-picked. basket tied afront their waist.
The cherries need to be hand-picked. They position the basket
Therefore, the rainy season workforce of 3-4 underneath where they are

family members becomes 40+ when harvest picking to catch any falling
season begins. Workers from bordering cherries. The tricky part is not
countries like Nicaragua (many of which are only doing this fast enough to
indigenous) travel to Costa Rica for the harvest earn a living but also avoiding
season to pick coffee and make money before the unripe cherries.
travelling back home. Producers, like Roberto, Not all the cherries ripen at
must provide pickers with accommodation as once. Over the 3 month
well as coffee to pick. Many of Roberto’s pickers harvesting period, pickers will
return to his farm every year because they do 1 pass over a single tree
know he provides safe accommodation, pays every month, culminating is 3
above the legal requirements, and his crop is passes per tree. Unripe green
good so they can maximise how much they can cherries are left on the branch
pick. to ripen overtime until the

These men and women feel so safe under next pass in a months’ time
Roberto’s care that they often bring their The only exceptions are if any
children too (which is not always safe to do cherries have dried
when traversing through the boarding prematurely on the tree
countries). The trust works both ways, as (which need picking when you
Roberto knows that these pickers can be see them) or, for whatever
trusted to harvest only the ripest cherries. How reason, any few unripe
do you know when a cherry is at its ripest? cherries left at the end of the

When it is bright red all over (unless it is a season.
yellow variety… then it must be bright yellow).
Once their basket is full,
When picking cherries, pickers are organised pickers make their way down
into small groups with one manager overseeing the mountain and pour the
them. Daily, each group is allocated a different basket into their own
area of trees, and each picker within the group designated sacks. It is then

is allocated specific trees within that area. back up the mountain to go JULY/AUGUST. 2024 | ISSUE 37
Pickers go from tree to tree, starting at the again… and again. At the end
bottom and working their way up and around, of the day, managers signal to

hand-picking the ripest cherries from each the pickers to bring their last
branch (working from the base of the branch payload down for counting.

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