With a new technique we are trialling this year our coffee trees have never looked so good! The amount of flowers is mind-blowing, creating the heady aroma of Jasmine whilst covering the trees in a heavy dusting of "snow".
An interesting factoid is that the Arabica coffee flowers are self pollinating, using the wind as a means of distributing the pollen. Where as the Robusta coffee flowers benefit greatly from the pollination by insects, up to a 50% increase in yield than without insects. Here on the plantation we do have bee hives that we harvest the delightful subtle honey off that is sold in our plantation café here in Mareeba ( It doesn't last long as its such a limited supply and is delicious). For those of you wondering we don't ship the honey due to the varying laws around our beautiful country in regards to Honey across borders.
The coffee flowers only last around 3 - 5 days, then the 9 month journey of the beans truly begins ( Yep 9 months, our precious little babies :).
Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!