918 
Photo by Robert DeC. Ward 
BASIN WHERE THE COFFEE IS WASHED AFTER 
BEING PICKED 
trees. In one day each laborer may 
gather enough coffee berries to make 50 
pounds of dried coffee. 
THE HARVEST 
‘The usual method of harvesting is to 
let the berries, leaves, twigs, etc., fall di- 
rectly on the ground, where they are 
later raked together with wire rakes with 
rounded teeth, and the first rough sorting 
is made. The next stage is a winnowing 
by means of a wire sieve, the hand being 
used to pick out the twigs and leaves and 
the wind blowing away a good deal of 
the dust as the contents of the sieve are 
thrown up into the air and caught again 
several times. In a less common method 
the results of the harvesting are allowed 
to fall onto cotton cloths spread out 
underneath the trees. This makes the 
gathering of the crop quicker. 
In any case, the ground underneath 
each tree is very carefully looked over 
and swept, so that none of the precious 
berries may be lost. When the prelimi- 
nary winnowing has been completed in 
the field, the berries, together with some 
small twigs, leaves, and much dirt, are 
packed into sacks, which are placed at 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
the ends of the rows of trees 
along the roads which traverse 
the plantations at intervals, and 
are then carried off by wagons. 
SEGREGATING THE RIPE AND 
UNRIPE BERRY 
As they are brought from the 
harvesting, the coffee berries are 
ripe (red), or over-ripe (brown 
or blackish), or still unripe 
(green). It is impossible in 
picking to select only those ber- 
ries which happen to be ripe. 
The contents of the sacks, pre- 
ferably on the day of picking, 
are dumped into a narrow ce- 
ment or brick-lined canal through 
which a strong stream of clean 
water is flowing. This canal is 
supplied from a small reservoir, 
and is preferably built on a hill- 
side above the drying grounds 
(terreiros) and the machinery, 
so that gravity may carry the berries to 
the successive early stages of the process 
of preparation. From this canal the 
water flows through a couple of large 
vats, or basins, being kept in motion both 
by the force of gravity and by means of 
long-handled wooden or metal rakes, or 
hoes, moved actively to and fro by work- 
men. 
This manipulation results in bringing 
the unripe, light, imperfect, and dry ber- 
ries to the surface of the water, while 
the heavier and riper berries sink to the 
bottom, the sides of the trough usually 
sloping toward the bottom. By allow- 
ing the level of the water surface to rise, 
all the berries which are floating on the 
surface can be run off into an adjacent 
maceration basin, where those which are 
not too dry are allowed to soften for 
a few hours, sometimes under canvas 
covers, before they are carried into the 
pulper (despolpador). If the berries are 
too dry for pulping, even after being 
softened, they are carried by water di- 
rectly to the drying grounds, and are 
prepared by the dry method. 
The ripe berries do not require the 
intermediate stage of maceration. These 
