A Beginner’s Guide To Coffee Harvesting Seaons
If you frequent the Tala cafes, you may notice a group of colorful coffee bags on the shelf with our mainstay blends. These bags hold our seasonal, single-origin coffee offerings. As you might know, the coffee “bean” is actually the seed of a coffee tree. These trees produce a fruit called a coffee cherry, and the coffee “bean” is the pit of that cherry.
Just like any other fruit, coffee is seasonal. There are portions of the year that coffee is being cultivated and another portion when coffee cherries are ripe for picking. Lucky for us, coffee is grown in many different countries around the world. Each country has a different harvest season, with some countries having multiple harvests per year. This allows us to have a constant but rotating supply of coffees available for harvesting, processing, shipping, roasting, and eventually brewing. This supply chain takes time and creates a slightly confusing calendar for coffee seasonality. For example, a Guatemalan coffee harvested in January may not arrive stateside until March. Shipments of green, unroasted coffee typically begin a month or two after the harvest season begins and extend one to two months beyond the end of a harvest season.
To break this down, here is a graphic from our friends at Cafe Imports:
At Tala, we purchase our single-origin coffees from our importing partners in large, 150lb jute bags. There could be a large amount of these bags available to purchase and offer, but sometimes there is not. This is mostly dependent on demand and how early we can get our hands on a forward coffee sample. Every once in a while (and especially recently), we come across a coffee that has a limited supply, but is simply too tasty to pass up. With changing economics and record-high prices for green (raw) coffee, this is likely to be the case for many incoming single-origin coffees. Frankly, it’s a logistical miracle that we are able to enjoy any of these delicious coffees, and that reality is becoming more apparent. These coffees are meticulously farmed and processed to convey the intrinsic flavors and terroir of the region. A good 90% of the care and work has already been done before a coffee reaches our door to be roasted and brewed.
Naturally, fresher is better. But how long does green coffee last? The answer is about twelve months in a controlled environment. However, most coffee roasters agree that quality begins to degrade around six to eight months. This means that if we have a large enough supply of a coffee, the longest length of time we offer it to our guests is six to eight months. Coffee is a fleeting reality. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Sometimes we are able to purchase the same coffee during the next harvest, but ecological factors such as rainfall, cloud cover, and temperature will inevitably change the product of those same exact coffee trees. Therefore, we should cherish and enjoy the coffees we love when they come around. Each harvest, each batch, and even each cup can be uniquely different. So take your time to appreciate the coffee in front of you. Happy sipping.
MIKE BOYACK
Barista and resident coffee nerd, Mike is always up for a conversation about coffee. When he’s not in the cafe, roastery, or training lab, he’s typically hanging out with his wife Kailyn and newborn son Bennett.
