El Salvador Coffee Plantation

My friend was kind enough to take these pictures of his father's coffee plantation in El Salvador.

You'll notice that this coffee tree is not very tall.  Coffee trees must be pruned and trimmed to keep them from growing too tall.  Coffee beans are usually picked by hand so tall coffee trees would make it very difficult to harvest the beans.

The coffee trees are fairly difficult to make out in this photo.  They are the small bush-like growths beneath the large shade tree in the middle.  The coffee trees  are inter-planted among shade trees.  This is called "shade grown" and  is the preferred method since it is more ecologically sound and bird friendly.

These photos were taken in April so the trees are just beginning to "flower".  In six months this tree will have ripe red cherries ready to pick!