what does a coffee plant actually look like? How many varieties are there? And how do the flowers and cherries affect the drink we consume every day? Read on to find out. What country comes when you hear the word \u201ccoffee:\u201d Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia?\u00a0Actually, the coffee plant originated in Ethiopia.\u00a0 Over the centuries, coffee spread throughout Africa and the Middle East and from there across the globe. There are dozens of stories about how this happened, from\u00a0saints sneaking beans out of Yemen\u00a0to European powers replanting it throughout their colonies. What seems to be undeniable is that empires had a significant role to play. Fast-forward to today. Coffee is an integral part of crop economies in parts of\u00a0Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Non-producing countries also thrive on coffee, roasting and consuming vast quantities every single day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

But what actually is this drink? What is it made of?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The name \u201ccoffee bean\u201d is a lie: coffee is a seed. You\u2019ll find two (normally) of these seeds inside each cherry-like fruit of the coffee plant. The coffee plant could also be categorized as a tree since it has the ability to grow up to about 9 meters. But on coffee farms, it tends to be cut short to make it easier to harvest. As a result, it often looks more like a bush. From the main trunk of the coffee plant, you\u2019ll see primary, secondary, and tertiary horizontal branches. From these, dark green, waxy leaves grow in pairs. \u201cThe leaf is fundamental for the plant since that is where photosynthesis happens.\u201d In other words, no leaves would mean no energy. And without energy, the plants would never be able to grow the delicious cherries that contain our coffee beans. Once the coffee plant is about three or four years old, it will flower for the first time. Small, delicate, white flowers will grow where the leaves and branches join, releasing a sweet aroma. \u201cThe flowers are where the sexual organs are located.\u201d In other words, the leaves and flowers help the coffee plant reproduce and sustain itself. Six to eight weeks after pollination, a cherry-like fruit will appear where the flowers were located. The unripe cherries are green; over time, they turn red, yellow, orange, or even pink,\u00a0<\/span>depending on the variety<\/span>. And as they ripen, they will grow increasingly sweeter and the caffeine content in the cherries? That actually works as a deterrent against \u2013 most \u2013 predators. Within the cherry, you\u2019ll find multiple layers. Alvarez says that it has \u201can exocarp, which is the actual cherry, then we have a mesocarp which is where the mucilage is.\u201d And within the mucilage lies the seeds we can\u2019t face Monday morning without \u2013 coffee beans!\u00a0 Inside every cherry, you\u2019ll find two small seeds \u2013 unless it\u2019s a pea berry or otherwise defective, of course. A pea berry is when the seeds are joined: instead of two almost peanut-like ones, you\u2019ll have a larger, rounder, pea-shaped one. This happens to around 5% of seeds. These seeds are the coffee beans. They go through extensive processing to remove the fruit and mucilage, before being dried, roasted, ground, and finally turned into our favorite beverage.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But not all coffee plants are the same\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Different Kinds of Coffee Plants is about Coffee has over a hundred different species, and each species can be further divided into varieties. And all of these have an impact on how the coffee tastes, how much caffeine it has, and how it grows. <\/span>The 2 Main Coffee Species: Arabica & Robusta <\/i><\/b>which Arabica is the most commonly consumed coffee in the world, accounting for about 70% of the industry. It\u2019s known for its quality flavors and aromas; \u201cIn the specialty market, you go with Arabica.\u201d Compared to Robusta, it:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\r\n
• Is more sensitive to the weather\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n
• Is more susceptible to pests<\/span><\/li>\r\n
• Thrives at lower temperatures (which often correlate with higher elevations or being grown in the shade)<\/span><\/li>\r\n
• Usually produces fewer cherries<\/span><\/li>\r\n
• Has less caffeine content<\/span><\/li>\r\n
• Tends to be sweeter, more complex, and more aromatic<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n

  Robusta, or Canephora, is a more durable, robust tree. It accounts for about 30% of the coffee industry.\u00a0Compared to Arabica, it:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

  \r\n
  • Is more resistant to diseases and pests<\/span><\/li>\r\n
  • Has a higher caffeine content<\/span><\/li>\r\n
  • Thrives at slightly warmer temperatures<\/span><\/li>\r\n
  • Has a higher yield, with more cherries and therefore more seeds; however, this means the individual cherries don\u2019t get as many nutrients and so the coffee is often of a lower quality<\/span><\/li>\r\n
  • Tends to be bitter\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n

    The Great Big World of Coffee Varieties<\/i><\/b> is Unlike species, we consume numerous coffee varieties. Next time you buy a bag of specialty coffee, look at the label: it may tell you which one you\u2019re drinking. Some of the most common ones include Typica, Bourbon, and Caturra. And then there\u2019s Gesha\/Geisha, which is probably the most famous variety of all. This exquisite coffee is known for its delicate floral flavors and aromas, along with a tea-like body. The coffee industry also sometimes creates hybrid varieties. these are created when the industry \u201csees the necessity, or the market, for fusing coffees together.\u201d And the aim?\u00a0<\/span>Disease resistance, higher productivity, and better flavor<\/span>. Pedrotti tells me that a coffee plant could live for up to 80 years. But on a commercial farm? that you might expect them to last for 20 to 30 years, depending on how they\u2019re cared for.\u00a0 For the first few years of a tree\u2019s life, you shouldn\u2019t expect great productivity. Remember, it won\u2019t flower until it\u2019s three or four years old. All coffee trees started life as those very same seeds that we roast and brew every day. As it grows, you\u2019ll see its distinctive shoots and bright green leaves. Most producers keep young coffee trees in nurseries until the seedlings are ready to be planted on the farm. Once a coffee plant is mature, it will produce flowers; this normally happens shortly after heavy rainfall.\u00a0And then, after the flowers, comes the cherries. In some countries, such as Colombia, the climate means that the trees flower twice a year \u2013 something that, in turn, leads to two harvests a year. that the producer and farm staff must learn to identify when coffee is ready for harvesting. For Arabica coffee, the time from flowering to harvesting is approximately nine months\u00a0 , Robusta coffee can be harvested two to three times each year, depending on climate and soil. <\/span>The coffee plant, with its bright cherries and delicate white flowers, is a beautiful sight. Perhaps it\u2019s a strong low-altitude variety or a delicate but flavorsome high-altitude one, a young seedling or an old giant, full of ripe fruit or simply dark green leaves. Either way, it\u2019s thanks to this tree that we can enjoy our daily brew and millions of people around the world have a living.<\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    what does a coffee plant actually look like? How many varieties are there? And how do the flowers and cherries affect the drink we consume every day? Read on to find out. What country comes when you hear the word \u201ccoffee:\u201d Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia?\u00a0Actually, the coffee plant originated in Ethiopia.\u00a0 Over the centuries, coffee spread […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,149,150,151],"tags":[53,66,140,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-coffee","category-varieties","category-arabica","category-robusta","tag-blog","tag-drinking","tag-coffee","tag-specialty","tag-processing","tag-training","tag-uganda","tag-fertilizer","tag-pacamara","tag-geisha","tag-belt"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":false,"total_views":0,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1765,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/1765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}