Sorting through cherries at the end of the day

Just had a french press of (RED) with a partner, and it inspired me to create another post!
This shot was taken just outside Bella Vista and shows the coffee pickers sorting through their cherries at the end of the day. Although the utmost care is taken in only harvesting perfectly ripe red cherries, some underripe beans and leaves do find their way into the basket. Pickers can leave up to 2% green cherries in their harvest, but anything above that means their basket will be turned away. Many keep the green cherries and try to ripen them further in the sun on a patio, and then process, roast and consume it locally.

The average picker can pick from 100 - 150 lbs of cherry per day, and will be paid about $1.30 per cajuela (a cajuela is the volumetric measurement of cherries, and is about 13kgs or 28.6 lbs). The pickers work on both small farms and large estates, with 95% of farms being between 1-5 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres). The other 5% of farms are large estates that account for 40% of production in Costa Rica.

Tune back in next week for the life cycle of a coffee tree!