Coffee Harvesting and Processing in Costa Rica

Each year coffee is harvested during the dry season when the coffee cherries are bright red, glossy, and firm. In Costa Rica this harvest period generally falls between mid-November and February. Despite being north of the equator Costa Ricans have referred to the dry season as their 'summer' since it is marked by clear skies and warmer temperatures. It is also when the Costa Rican school year ends, a memory from the time when every member of the family was needed to help with harvesting.

Selective hand picking is the rule of the day at many plantations. To maximize the amount of ripe coffee harvested, it is necessary to selectively pick the red, ripe coffee "cherries" from the tree by hand and leave behind unripe, green beans to be harvested at a later time. Several harvests over the same field may be required over many weeks to get all of the berries. Another reason for hand picking is that much of Costa Rica's coffee is grown on mountain slopes where the use of mechanical harvesting methods are not practical. This means that workers must hike up and down the steep slopes with baskets full of coffee — a real workout for anyone.

Learn all about Costa Rican Coffee in this excerpt from the September 2009 Hacienda Matapalo Community Newsletter.