Look at the size of those beans.
Our coffee trees flowered in late November. It’s now February and, thanks to some great summer rains, our beans are turning into big boys (and girls).
About 6-8 weeks after a coffee flower is fertilized, cell division occurs to make a tiny coffee fruit. It’s as big as a pin head at this stage, but depending on climate, it can grow pretty rapidly. Coffee beans should ripen 30-35 weeks after flowering, turning from green to red. If this calculation is correct, that means our harvest will start at the end of June. This is much earlier than previous years, when we’ve started picking as late as August. But when I was a kid, June was always harvest time. Hopefully, we’re returning to our normal cycle.
Here’s a great little animated diagram of coffee bean development. I’ve linked to this before, but it’s so good, I can’t help but do it again.
Agora em português!
Nossos pés de café floresceram no final de novembro. Graças umas chuvas fortes esse verão, os nossos grãos de café estão ficando graúdos.
Cerca de 6-8 semanas após uma flor de café é fertilizado, ocorre uma divisão celular e nasce um fruto de café pequeno. (É tão grande como uma cabeça de alfinete.) Dependendo das chuvas, esse pequeno grão pode crescer rapidamente. Grãos de café devem amadurecer 30-35 semanas após a floração. Se este cálculo está correto, isso significa que nossa colheita começará no final de junho. Nos anos anteriores, começamos colhendo em agosto! Mas na minha infância, junho sempre foi o tempo de colheita. Pode ser que estamos retornando ao nosso ciclo normal.
Aqui está um link que mostra desenvolvimento do grão de café .
Abraços!
Frances
Themocracy
I love the clarity and simplicity of your photos. And I love the thoughtfulness inside your details. What a mind and soul you have! Did you know your little cousins are growing up? Nike is a husky college sophomore rooting for his basketball team at the University of Kansas. Katie is blossoming into a young woman–17 in a halfyear–at Interlochen, an arts school in northern michigan. Your parents are so cool at 70. What rockers! I’m going to visit them soon.