These are the young coffee plants.  They were kept surrounded by palm trees to shade and protect them.  These are the mature plants which bear shiny green, elliptic leaves, and white fragrant flowers, similar to jasmine, that bloom for only a few days. During the six or seven months after flowering, the fruit develops, changing from light green to red and, ultimately, when fully ripe and ready for picking, to deep crimson. The mature fruit, which resembles a cherry, grows in clusters attached to the limb by very short stems, and it usually contains two seeds, or beans, surrounded by a sweet pulp. When curing the coffee-beans machines remove the pulp of the ripe coffee cherries (softened in water) exposing the beans' protective coat of parchment. The beans are then soaked and fermented in large tanks to loosen their covering which is washed away with water until the beans are clean. They are then dried by the sun or a machine to be put into a huller which removes the remaining covering. The green coffee beans are then ready to be sorted by hand or machine to remove defective beans and extraneous material and finally to be graded by size. Then the green beans are ready to be roasted and that's where we, Sisters Coffee Company come in!