The coffee plant belongs to the genus Coffea in the Rubiaceae botanical family. Although there are numerous species, only two of them are used for cultivation world wide: Coffea arabica L. and Coffea canephora. Coffea robusta is a variety of Coffea canephora. Coffea excelsa, cultivated in Central Africa, is one of the numerous varieties of Coffea dewevrei; its total production is much smaller than that of the previous cited species.
The height of adult coffee trees ranges form one foot to fifty feet, depending on the species. There are numerous varieties of coffea arabica, which originated in Ethiopia. This coffea grows at altitudes between 3250-6500 feet in Latin America, Reunion Island and Indonesia; this species represents 75% of coffea production world wide. Coffea canephora, second in production, is mainly grown in Africa and Indonesia. The most common variety is robusta (95% of plantation of Coffea canephora). It is cultivated in Africa, in Far East, South Sea Islands and in Brazil in regions where arabica cannot be grown because of climatic condition. The trunk of the coffee is straight and smooth, its branches hang low and slope downwards, the leaves are green, elongated and non-deciduous. White blossoms (fragrant star shaped flowers that last only a few days) along with green, yellowing or red fruit coexist on the same branch. The fruit looks like cherries; its contains two seeds that will become coffee beans, Arabica coffee beans are oval and long with a subtle taste and fruit-like aroma while robusta beans are smaller, round, irregular, and have a stringer taste.
The word ‘drupe’ is the technical term used to designate the fruit. It matures in six to fourteen month, depending on the variety; the fruit is covered by a very tough skin-like, smooth red film called the ‘epicarp’. It covers the ‘mesocarp’ which contains mostly water (70 to 85%) and has a high concentration of sugar and pectin. The ‘mesocarp’ represents 40 to 65% of the fruit’s weight, depending on the variety, The bean is formed of a horn-like albumen (endosperm) made up of starch, lipids, reducing sugars, sucrose, tannins, caffeine, etc, and 20% water. Two envelopes cover the endosperm, one is internal: the ‘spermoderm’ or ‘silverskin’; the other external, the ‘endocarp’ or parchment.
Coffee Plant and World Production
