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Coffee Bean

Coffee beans are actually seeds from the fruit of Coffea plants. The fruit, often called a coffee cherry, contains two seeds or beans that are referred to as coffee beans even though they are not technically beans. The two most important varieties are Arabica and Robusta coffee plants, which account for about 60% and 40% of global coffee production, respectively. Coffee beans are a major global export and cash crop, accounting for over 50% of some developing nations' foreign exchange earnings.

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Mihhai Cosmin
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156 views

Coffee Bean

Coffee beans are actually seeds from the fruit of Coffea plants. The fruit, often called a coffee cherry, contains two seeds or beans that are referred to as coffee beans even though they are not technically beans. The two most important varieties are Arabica and Robusta coffee plants, which account for about 60% and 40% of global coffee production, respectively. Coffee beans are a major global export and cash crop, accounting for over 50% of some developing nations' foreign exchange earnings.

Uploaded by

Mihhai Cosmin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A coffee bean is a seed of the Coffea plant and the source for coffee.

It is the pip inside the red or purple


fruit. This fruit is often referred to as a coffee cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a
so-called stone fruit. Even though the coffee beans are not technically beans, they are referred to as such
because of their resemblance to true beans. The fruits; cherries or berries, most commonly contain two
stones with their flat sides together. A small percentage of cherries contain a single seed, instead of the
usual two. This is called a "peaberry". The peaberry occurs only between 10% and 15% of the time, and
it is a fairly common (yet scientifically unproven) belief that they have more flavour than normal coffee
beans.[3] Like Brazil nuts (a seed) and white rice, coffee beans consist mostly of endosperm.[4]

The two most economically important varieties of coffee plant are the Arabica and the Robusta;
approximately 60% of the coffee produced worldwide is Arabica and ~40% is Robusta.[5] Arabica beans
consist of 0.8–1.4% caffeine and Robusta beans consist of 1.7–4.0% caffeine.[6] As coffee is one of the
world's most widely consumed beverages, coffee beans are a major cash crop and an important export
product, accounting for over 50% of some developing nations' foreign exchange earnings. This has made
coffee very important in culture and food around the world.[7] In 2017, 70% of total coffee production
was exported, worth US$19.9 billion.[8]

History

Main article: History of coffee

Significant dates

According to legend, the coffee plant was discovered in Ethiopia by a goat herder named Kaldi around
850 AD, who observed increased physical activity in his goats after they consumed coffee beans.[9]

The coffee plant was first found in the mountains of Yemen. Then by 1500, it was exported to the rest of
the world through the port of Mocha, Yemen.

First cultivation in India (Chikmagalur) – 1600

First cultivation in Europe – 1616

First cultivation in Java – 1699

First cultivation in Caribbean (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico) – 1715–1730

First cultivation in South America – 1730

First cultivation in Dutch East Indies – 1720

Roasted beans first sold on retail market (Pittsburgh) – 1865


Important spray-drying techniques developed in 1950s, which along with freeze drying are a method to
create instant coffee

Distribution

The bean belt in yellow: The 20 largest producers (2011) are in green.

Brazil produces about 45% of the world's total coffee exports, with most grown in Brazil. The United
States imports more coffee than any other nation. As of 2015, Americans consumed approximately 400
million cups of coffee per day, making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world.[10]

Coffee plants grow within a defined area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, termed the bean
belt or coffee belt.[11][12][13][14]

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the European languages generally appear to have gotten the
name from Turkish kahveh, about 1600, perhaps through Italian caffè. Arab qahwah, in Turkish
pronounced kahveh, the name of the infusion or beverage; said by Arab lexicographers to have originally
meant "wine" or some type of wine, and to be a derivative of a verb-root qahiya "to have no appetite".
Another common theory is that the name derives from Kaffa Province, Ethiopia, where the species may
have originated.[15]

Coffee plant

The flower of a Singararutang coffee tree

Coffee berries

The coffee tree averages from 5–10 m (16–33 ft) in height. As the tree gets older, it produces less fruit
and slowly loses any pest- and disease-resistance.

Coffee plants are often grown in rows metres/feet apart (depending on the desired density chosen by
the farmer). Some farmers plant other trees, such as shade trees or other cash-crop trees, such as
orange trees around them or plant the coffee on the sides of hills, because they need specific conditions
to flourish. Ideally, Arabica coffee beans are grown at temperatures between 15 and 24 °C (59 and 75 °F)
and Robusta between 24 and 30 °C (75 and 86 °F) and receive between 500 and 3,000 mm (20 and 118
in) of rainfall per year.[16] More rain is needed at the beginning of the season when the fruit is
developing and less later in the season as it ripens.

Two lesser known species grown for consumption are Coffea liberica and Coffea racemosa.[17]

Processing

Further information: Processing of coffee

When the fruit is ripe, it is almost always handpicked, using either "selective picking", where only the
ripe fruit is removed, or "strip-picking", where all of the fruit is removed from a limb all at once. Selective
picking is often used to produce higher quality coffee because the cherries are picked at their ripest.
Strip-picking is indiscriminate and will harvest unripe, ripe, and over-ripe fruit. To improve quality after
strip-picking, the harvest must be sorted.

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