The Magic of Coffee Harvesting With Hacienda Iluminada
As coffee harvesting is close in Maricao, Puerto Rico, many coffee farms are getting ready to welcome those matured coffee cherries to begin the amazing process of coffee! At Hacienda Iluminada, this is an exciting time of the year. We carefully handpick many coffee cherries, choosing only the most colorful and flavorful ones! It's a perfect opportunity to educate our caffeinated humans about this time of the year. In this Hacienda Iluminada blog, we’ll talk about harvesting of coffee cherries and the key to a successful harvest.
The Magic Of Harvesting
Coffee has a long process, it takes three years for coffee to grow, so of course it's an exciting moment for every human at the farm it's a beautiful experience. At Hacienda Iluminada, we do our harvesting by only selecting the ripest coffee cherries to make sure all of our caffeinated humans receive a flavorful cup of coffee. our amazing farmers hand-pick the coffee cherries, this method is intensive but ensures that only the best cherries are selected. This results in higher quality coffee, because only ripe cherries are picked, which have all of that Puerto Rican flavor. Other big coffee industries that need more coffee faster use the technique of ripping off the branch of the coffee paint without knowing if the coffee cherries are ripped or not. This can be faster but unripe and overripe coffee cherries can affect the quality of the coffee. This method is usually done with machinery but at Hacienda Iluminada, we are eco friendly, we do the best for coffee and Puerto Rican land!
The Perfect Timing
Timing is EVERYTHING when it comes to harvesting! The harvest season is different for every region, but in Puerto Rico, the perfect time to hand pick our coffee beans is in September and October when the coffee cherries have reached the perfect ripeness! If the picking of cherries is done too EARLY you can have a bitter taste in your coffee and if it's done too LATE then your coffee beans will taste acidic and the sweetness of it will be affected which will result in a bad taste. At Hacienda Ilumianda our amazing farmers wait until the coffee cherries are matured enough to be handpicked this requires a lot of attention to avoid affecting the flavor of the coffee!
If it’s GOOD for earth, it is GOOD FOR YOU!
Coffee Processing
Once the cherries are harvested, they must be processed quickly to prevent the coffee cherries to go bad or grow mold. The cherries are transported to processing where they go though different steps, such as pulping, fermenting, drying, and milling, to transform them into green coffee beans ready for roasting. At Hacienda. Iluminada we use the none processing that gives our coffee beast that balanced flavor!
In Conclusion…
Coffee harvesting is na exciting time of the year that needs careful attention to detail, and timing, Understanding and mastering these elements, coffee farmers make sure that they produce the highest quality coffee cherries, resulting in a delicious cup of coffee for our humans in New York, Puerto Rico and Texas. The goal is to harvest cherries at their peak ripeness and get the unique flavors of Puerto Rico!