Where Do Coffee Beans Come From

Where Do Coffee Beans Come From? Coffee Plant Growing Process

Where do coffee beans come from? Coffee beans are the seed of a coffee cherry, which is found on coffee plants. Coffee plants can be either Arabica or Robusta varieties and they grow best in warm climates. Coffee cherries are usually harvested by hand, dried, processed and roasted to make the beans that we know and love. 

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Where Do Coffee Beans Come From 1

Where do coffee beans come from?

The source of coffee is a plant! When grown in the wild, coffee plants are woody evergreens that may reach heights of up to 10 meters. The Bean Belt, which is the region around the equator between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, is where the majority of the world’s coffee is grown. 

Coffee beans from a plant called Coffea, which grows in tropical climates. There are two main types of green coffee beans; Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is the most popular and accounts for 60% of world coffee production. It is known to have a mild flavor and produce specialty coffees like decaf. 

A portion of Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia are included in this area.

These plants produce “cherries” that contain the developing coffee beans. The phrase “coffee bean” is somewhat deceptive since what we roast to produce coffee is actually a seed to cup. Each cherry-like coffee plant fruit typically contains two of these seeds. 

These cherries are selected by coffee makers at precisely the appropriate stage of maturity so that they may provide the most mouthwatering taste. Depending on how long it takes for a coffee variety to reach its optimum flavor quality coffee, each has a unique maturation and harvesting procedure. 

The coffee beans are separated from the fruit when the cherries are picked, and they are then finally roasted. At this moment, the brew coffee finally turns into the well-known dark brown bean.

Process for a coffee plant to grow

If you’re wondering how long it takes to grow coffee, a fresh plant typically takes one year to start blooming. Before the tree starts to yield fruit after that, it may take another two or three years. Watch it in action in this time-lapse video of a coffee plant growing!

A mature coffee plant may survive for thirty or even forty years if it is correctly situated in the shade. Some even have it at or even higher!

However, the plant is most profitable to farmers during the first couple of decades (after the initial stretch of development in which the plant is reaching the point at which it can produce beans commercially).

Unfortunately, a significant shift toward coffee that is grown in the sun has significantly reduced the yield of coffee plants over time. 

This monocrop strategy forced farmers to select hybrids that could adapt to the intense periods under the scorching sun in the typically equatorial locations where beans are produced. This drove coffee beans out of their naturally shady environment.

All of these elements combined to reduce the output of a coffee plant’s life cycle during the bean-growing stage by half.

Types of coffee beans

Types of coffee beans

Arabica and Robusta are the two primary varieties of coffee that humans eat. There are more than 100 distinct varieties of coffee in the coffea Arabica family than there are in the Robusta family. The coffee plant’s species and variety have an impact on how it tastes, how much caffeine it contains, and where it grows:

Arabica

One of the most common varieties of coffee beans, Arabica, is thought to be one of the first coffee species ever cultivated, having roots that go back to 1,000 BC. The beans are bigger than Robusta beans and often oval in form with a noticeable center crease.

The Arabica family produces better-tasting coffee, thus it makes up the bulk of the coffee grown and eaten worldwide. Ethiopia, where half of the world’s coffee is produced, is the location of the original Arabica coffee bean plant. 

Arabica beans are renowned for their premium tastes and smells, which are more nuanced and sweet in the cup of coffee. All of the coffees sold at The Roasterie are Arabica-based!

Robusta

Robusta coffee, which is often cultivated in Africa, Vietnam, and Indonesia, has lower levels of acidity than Arabica coffee, which means it typically tastes considerably less sweet. 

Robusta may generate tones of wood or burned rubber because of its simpler acidity and deeper and stronger flavor components. Due to the thick coating of crema and rich flavor it produces, it is a popular option for espressos.

Because of its smaller size and lower sugar content, Robusta coffees tend to taste more bitter and earthy and contain more caffeine. Robusta is a less expensive coffee bean than Arabica since it is also more simple to grow. Robusta is often only used in commercial-grade items, including instant coffee, because of its cheap price.

Decaf coffee beans

Since coffee beans inherently contain caffeine, there is no such thing as decaf coffee. The decaffeination procedure is undertaken prior to the roasting process which entails swelling them with water or steam, then extracting the caffeine using water, organic solvent or activated carbon. The decaf coffee beans are then dried to restore their original moisture.

Decaffeinated coffee beans still retain some caffeine even if the term “decaffeinated” implies that all of it has been taken out.

FAQs

FAQs

What tree does coffee come from?

Answer: the berries taken from many Coffea plant types. A roasted coffee bean is easily recognizable to everyone, yet a coffee plant may not be. Although they may reach heights of more than 30 feet (9 meters), coffee trees are often cut low to save energy and facilitate harvesting.

Where are coffee beans grown in the US?

Answer: Hawaii and Puerto Rico are the two U.S. locales where coffee may be grown most successfully. Maui in Hawaii is a coffee-growing island, and California is another. The places where coffee is cultivated on a commercial basis include Hawaii and California.

Where is the birthplace of coffee?

Answer: Ethiopia is historically regarded as the origin of coffee. It is located in eastern Africa, south of Egypt and north of Kenya. Coffee cherries from stray trees are still harvested today.

Who was the first to drink coffee?

Answer: Although the Ethiopians are credited with discovering coffee, the earliest locations where coffee was examined and recorded were the Sufi monasteries of Yemen, which are located close over the Red Sea from Ethiopia. 

The popularity of coffee spread from the Middle East to Turkey, South India, North Africa, and Persia by the end of the 16th century. By the 17th century, it had spread to Italy, the Balkans, and the rest of Europe.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this “Where do coffee beans come from?” article. If you have any questions, please contact CentralParkwestcafe or leave a comment below here. 

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