Growing Coffee Beans

The Highest Standard

Picture a remote, lush mountainside in South America, Central America, Indonesia, Africa, the Caribbean, or Hawaii. Here, between 2,000 and 6,000 feet you find the fertile landscape and delicate microclimate of an Arabica coffee plantation.

At this altitude the trees grow denser and the beans more flavorful. This is where it all begins for the finest coffee beans in the world.

Handpicked. Then Picked by Hand

Much the same way vintners nurture grapes to produce fine wine, coffee farmers carefully cultivate their trees. Coffee trees grow in a belt around the globe between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. After three years, a young tree can produce the equivalent of a two pound bag of roasted coffee per year. Handpicking protects the trees and ensures only ripe beans are selected for peak flavor.

Ripened to Crimson Perfection

The coffee bean is the seed of a bright crimson coffee cherry, the fruit of the coffee tree. Because they ripen at different times on the same plant, the cherries are handpicked. A pulping machine then separates the beans from the skin. Then the beans typically are spread out in the sun on immense patios to dry.