Coffee Cherries: Structure, Ripening & Harvest
Understand the anatomy and ripening of the coffee cherry, including pulp, mucilage, parchment, silverskin and seed.
Inside a coffee cherry
A typical coffee cherry consists of an outer skin, pulp, a mucilage layer, parchment surrounding the seed and the seed itself. After processing, the dried seed is prepared as green coffee.
Ripening
As cherries mature, their colour commonly changes from green toward yellow, orange or red depending on variety. Ripeness is assessed using more than colour alone; producers may also consider firmness, fruit development and the desired harvest strategy.
Two seeds, sometimes one
Most cherries contain two seeds with their flat faces together. A single rounded seed can develop when one ovule does not develop; this is commonly called a peaberry. Peaberry is a seed-development form, not a separate coffee species or variety.
From cherry to green coffee
Harvesting is followed by sorting and processing. The chosen process determines how the fruit layers are removed or dried around the seed and therefore affects the physical and chemical history of the green coffee.
Continue exploring
Green coffee
Follow coffee from plant and cherry through processing, drying, milling and storage.
Green coffee →Coffee chemistry
Explore the compounds and reactions that shape roasted coffee.
Coffee chemistry →Coffee extraction
Connect grind, water, temperature, time, concentration and extraction.
Coffee extraction →Coffee Knowledge presents technical subjects as an educational reference. Terminology, grading systems and production practices can vary by country, producer, equipment and commercial context.