Fabrizio Senciòn Ramirez is back to talk about coffee picking
May 10, 2021
Fabrizio Senciòn Ramirez is back to talk about coffee! Today he tells us about the most crucial step in the process from the bean to the cup, the picking process.
“Coffee plants flower in their 3rd year of life, and normally the first harvest must be sacrificed, just like with any other fruit. It takes at least five years before you can count on a strong plant with a proper yield - that is, until the plant delivers more fruit and the cherries are in optimal condition.
After picking there’s a lot of ways a producer can go, depending on the process he wants to do and what is the best expression for that varietal. This is where the producer starts to play his cards, but basically the picking process is one of the most crucial parts in the coffee chain.
Here in Mexico the cycle of the plant is taken care of without mechanical automation, so sorting and picking is done manually. This is good because you can make sure you only harvest ripe cherries! However, it is difficult to ensure that the pickers only choose the best fruits, so that producers can obtain the best quality of the product.
As a specialty brand in Mexico, with Cafè Estelar we only buy specialty-grade coffee, but it’s very hard and picking is probably the key element of the whole chain.
The cherries need to be picked one by one to have a good selection of ripe fruits. In addition to probably being the least paid work I’ve seen in the industry, harvesting is also a very exhausting job to do: pickers must follow the natural conformations of the land, and unfortunately for them, coffee doesn't grow on flat lands. If conditions are proper, a picker can collect from 40 to 60 kg of ripe cherries per journey.
Although we are in one of the top five producing countries, it's still hard to find a good sorting - this is why it's important to keep sharing our experience! Even here where we have coffee around the corner, a very fresh product, fresh from harvest to roasting - a truly unique condition that is the most representative thing of being here and consuming local!".
At the next appointment Cole Torode will tell us about the next step in the coffee chain! Do you already know what it is? #beantocup #makeitbetter
