Harvest
When the fruits are mature, from 6 to 8 month after flowering for the Arabica plant, and from 9 to 11 month for the Robusta, the harvest of coffee can begin. There exist two methods for harvesting: The individual collection and the removal of veins.
The collection consists of gathering or picking by hand only those cherries which are ripe. This is the more costly method, which requires searching without interruption various days the same plant for ripe cherries. This results in the best coffee qualities. The stripping of the fruits from the branches (despalillado), consists in scraping the branches holding the cherries. This method can be mechanized. Employing this expeditious technique, a heterogeneous mixture of cherries, more or less mature, is gathered which results in coffee with more acids (due to the still green fruits wich are gathered together with the ripe cherries).