What is hand picking for coffee harvesting?

Hand picking is a process that requires labourers to pick the coffee cherries by hand during harvesting.

Photographed by Damien Hockey

For specialty coffee market, only the ripe cherries will be picked. As sugar stops to develop after harvesting, picking ripe cherries can ensure the sweetness and flavour complexity in the cup. Under or over-ripe cherries, sometimes considered as defected beans, will add unpleasant tastes to the cup. That's why hand-picking becomes a major harvesting method for specialty coffee farms. Our featured coffee in Dec 2020 - Ethiopia Guji Dimtu Tirtiro Goye G1, is one of the example.

Only red-ripe cherries are picked