A coffee tree will produce its first full crop when it is about five years old. With the proper care and attention, it should produce consistently over the next 15 to 20 years. On average, most trees yield about 1 pound of coffee cherries annually.

At harvest time (this will vary depending on the region of the world the coffee is grown), the coffee trees are filled with coffee cherries. They will be ready for picking when they are bright red, glossy, and firm. An un-roasted coffee bean is basically the pit of the coffee cherry.

The coffee cherry has a skin that is very thick and has a slightly bitter flavor to it. The fruit under the skin is very sweet, having a texture very similar to that of a grape. Under the fruit layer is the parchment, which is covered by a thin, slippery, honey-like layer, called mucilage.

This parchment serves as a sort of protective area. After removing the parchment, there are two translucent bluish-green coffee beans, which are coated with a thin layer called the silver skin. Most coffee cherries have two beans, but 5% to 10% of the time only one bean is produced. When a coffee cherry has only a single coffee bean, is called a peaberry.