Coffee Picking on St Helena Island

St Helena coffee is renowned as the third most expensive coffee in the world. It is of extremely high quality and totally organic!
We needed to get out and about after all the Christmas festivities so had volunteered to go up to Bill and Jill’s House and coffee plantation near to Rosemary Plain.
We collect a bucket and commence picking of the red coffee cherries that are starting to ripen on the trees. It’s a late harvest Jill tells us – They would have normally finished harvesting by Xmas Eve, but due to late flowering this year, the crop is only just ready for the first pick. Fortunately the sun isn’t at full strength, so the picking is not too hot! There are over 2500 trees planted on the Plantation here which was only established in the 1990’s. The coffee is grown from one of the purest Arabica coffee plants. Due to the isolated nature of the island, the plants have remained pure, which produces the finest coffee almost anywhere in the world.

We’ve been picking for an hour or so when Jill calls us up to the house to indulge in a St Helena Coffee on the Veranda. We have a pleasant chat with Jill who is an excellent hostess and makes us very welcome! Coffee finished, we make our way back to the trees and continue picking. It’s not long before all ripe fruit has been harvested.
Bill now takes us on a tour of the coffee production side which is fascinating.

The cherries are picked.

The (hand) pulping machine removes the ‘beans’ from the shell and is left to ferment for 48 hours.

The beans are allowed to dry to 13⁰ moisture before being stored.

Bill sorts the beans into sizes before it is roasted to perfection and ground.

Bill also grows his own pure plants to keep the authenticity and rare nature.

The coffee is served in the Coffee Shop on the Waterfront and can be purchased locally too. You can also buy it on-line at £20.00 for 125g bag. The coffee won a premier award in the Great Exhibition way back in 1851!
All in all a great morning out helping the producers and where else in the world would you pick St Helena coffee and then drink it!