Growing coffee

Growing coffee

How do coffee cherries grow and ripen?

The coffee plant & coffee cherry

Coffee beans are the seeds inside coffee cherries — the fruit of the coffee plant. After flowering and pollination, the coffee cherries develop and ripen; the plant's growth and fruiting respond to its environment. Source: FAO coffee plant and crop cycle

Coffee branches with green coffee cherries and glossy leaves.
A coffee plant with green coffee cherries. Photo: Ashokkumar para · CC BY-SA 3.0
A red coffee cherry attached to a branch, beside a darker dried fruit.
A red coffee cherry on the branch. Photo: Roger Burger · CC0 1.0

Growing conditions

A growing site's temperature, water supply, soil and the farmer's management matter alongside the plant's genetics. Read altitude alongside latitude, temperature and the other growing conditions. Source: FAO growing conditions Source: WCR catalogue guide

Harvesting

Harvesting selects the coffee cherries that enter processing. Pick ripe coffee cherries, then sort out unripe, overripe and damaged fruit, along with foreign material. Source: ACIAR harvesting and processing

Explore Origins for places and Varieties for plants. Next, follow the harvested coffee cherries into Processing.