Coffee Harvesting
The Coffee plant is a member of the Rubiacee family and the wild can grow to 30ft but on plantations they are pruned to 6-8ft to make picking easier. They are botanically unusual because at any one time they can have flowers, immature green cherries and ripe red cherries all at the same time. The coffee cherry looks like an ordinary cherry but with a tougher skin. It contains a nut, and inside this two coffee beans covered in a thin, parchment skin. The coffee beans are actually the seeds of the coffee plant. The plant is also self- pollinating. A crop of cherries is produced 3-5 years after planting, and continues for 20 to 25 years afterwards depending upon care and conditions. A single bush generally produces only 1 kg of cleaned beans per year.
Tea Harvesting
This evergreen plant is a member of the Camellia family (Camellia Sinensis) and is grown in tropical and subtropical climatic conditions. The plant grows best in rich soil and requires at least 1500 mm of rainfall and is normally cultivated in hillside plantations.
Only leaves are used in tea and the higher the altitude in which the plant grows the better the quality the tea is. High grown tea has a light and delicate flavour, while mid grown tea is full bodied and pungent. Low grown tea is dark and it has a strong flavour.