The coffee fruit or coffee cherry, as it is also known, usually has one major harvest per year which can last from four to six months in some cases. Farmers hoping to achieve excellent cupping scores for their coffee harvest always hand pick the ripe cherries, sometimes having to make multiple passes as the coffee tree can have ripe and unripe fruit at the same time. The farmer will allow a week to two weeks between these passes. The majority of the varieties when ripe will exhibit a bright red colour like a cherry.