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THE QUEST FOR THE SUPERIOR QUALITY

To obtain optimum quality coffee, nothing can replace the human hand.

Picking
Picking the fruit by hand is the only way to ensure that the ripest fruit is selected.

• The "picking" requires gathering the fruit in a number of stages (6 to 8 trips) as fruit on the same branch does not ripen at the same time.
• This method, preferred by Nespresso is the most costly in terms of time and money.
• Gathering the fruit by hand guarantees the best quality coffee allowing beans that are too green and bitter or overripe and fermented to be weeded out.

Stripping
Picking by a total stripping of the branch is quick but it doesn't allow for selective sorting. Find out more (fenêtre d’information ci-dessous)

• The pickers strip the trees of both ripe and unripe cherries in one go, which fall onto a tarpaulin spread beneath the tree.
• They scrape the cherries off by sliding their hands along the branches or by using a large comb.
• This kind of method requires meticulous sorting to ensure a homogeneous harvest as even a few unripe beans can affect the quality of the coffee.

A mechanical picking system can replace the work of a team of men. Find out more

• The process involves placing a machine between the trees that shakes the branches so that all of the fruit falls in one go.
• Mechanical picking is particularly used on plains, in large plantations in Brazil or Australia on land that is fairly level.
• Processes that do not involve the selective sorting of the ripest cherries often result in coffees of a more acidic nature due to the presence of fruit that is still green.