Coffee beans are seeds. They are located inside fruits known as coffee cherries because of the resemblance of their red skin (the exocarp) when ripe. Underneath the outer pulp (mesocarp) lie two beans, flat sides together, surrounded by a parchment-like covering (the endocarp). When the fruit is ripe a thin, slimy layer of mucilage also surrounds the parchment. Underneath the parchment the beans are covered in another thinner membrane, the silver skin (the seed coat). Each cherry generally contains two coffee beans. Coffee beans must be removed from the fruit and dried before they are ready for export and roasting and either the dry or the wet methods are used to do this. In RECOCARNO'S case all exports are produced using wet methods, producing washed coffee, or café lavé. When the process is complete the unroasted coffee beans are known as green coffee.

Called cherries before de-pulping, the coffee is afterwards known as parchment, while still in its covering. When the hulling process removes this, it becomes green coffee, ready for roasting. Green coffee is about one-fifth of the weight of the cherries from which it is derived. The pulp, which accounts for the majority of the weight of the coffee cherry, is therefore an important by-product.

The coffee type cultivated by RECOCARNO farmers is Arabica, of the Typica variety, as traditionally grown in Haïti. Arabica Typica is well adapted to the Haïtian climate and soils as it thrives at higher elevations in a cooler, drier climate. Arabica coffee is renowned for its good flavour, high quality, and low caffeine content. Within the RECOCARNO area it is shade grown, naturally organic (no chemical fertiliser or pesticide), and is harvested between September and early January.

Cherries are hand-picked from the coffee trees when ripe and then fully washed, sun-dried and handpicked. The export period is December to June.