High altitudes coffee beans

Coffee varieties grown at high altitudes are generally more valuable than those from the plains or lowlands. The beans are brown in warm climates and high altitudes, in place like Africa, Jamaica, Brazil and Colombia.

In the state of Sao Paolo the average elevation of the coffee districts is between 1500 and 3000 feet above sea level. While in the coffee regions of mild producing Colombia are found in altitudes between 3,000 and 6500 feet.

Coffea arabica grows on steep mountain slopes at high altitudes and accounts for 70 percent of world production. Coffee experts agree that the arabica bean has a far superior flavor than other types.

Wherever the location, the best beans – the beans with enchantingly complex flavors and compelling characters, - grow some under some degree of stress, like high altitudes, intense heat or long dry periods. Such harsh weather conditions can produce high-quality beans, but also fewer beans per tree. This makes arabica coffee more costly.
High altitudes coffee beans

The Coffee Plant

The Coffee Plant
The coffee, or coffea, plant is a member of the Rubiaceae family. This is very big family that includes more than 6,000 species of tropical trees and shrubs.

Other well known members of the Rubiaceae family include cinchona, from which quinine, gardenia and bedstraw were extracted.

Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, was the first to describe the genus coffea sometime in the 1700s.

There are more than forty species of coffea, and some botanist disagree on exactly which plays belong in this genus and which should be excluded.

All, however, agree that coffea Arabica and Coffea canephora, the latter of which sometimes known as Coffea Robusta, are the major players.
The Coffee Plant

Coffea arabica - Temperature and Disease

Coffea arabica
Coffea arabica is a glossy leaved shrub or small tree with fragrant white flowers and red berry fruit. It was introduced into Arabia, in Yemen in the fifteenth century where it soon became used as the preferred beverage. Coffea Arabica is actually indigenous to Ethiopia, Arabia’s neighbor across the Red Sea.

The Dutch, French, and English introduced Coffea arabica into their tropical colonies from the late seventeenth century onwards. By 1723 Brazil had obtained seed and to this day Brazil is one of the world’s major suppliers of coffee.

The growth of Coffea arabica is best between the two tropics, but at an elevation such that the temperature does not arise much above 72 degree F or below 64 degree F and where the rainfall is fairly evenly spread throughout the year and is 40 to 60 in. The usual elevation is 4,000 to 5,000 ft.

It can tolerate cooler temperatures but is killed by frost. Shading of the plants does not seem essential although some shading prevents overbearing and weakening of the trees. Mulching is advantageous so that the roots are kept cool.

For the most part, when Coffea arabica is grown in these conditions it is relatively disease-resistant, but where it has been planted at a warmer and wetter elevation the plants have been lost to fungal disease.

In particular, the leaf spot disease Hemileia vastatrix has caused great losses. Plantations that thrived initially in Sri Lanka have been essentially destroyed by this disease. In Brazil during the mid 1970s vast plantation were lost to frost damage.
Coffea arabica

World of Coffee

World of Coffee
A cup of coffee, like any other experience, can be enriched by selection and consciousness. Choosing coffee beans can also be a perplexing experience, because there is a huge range of coffee types and bean blends from all around the word. The final flavor and quality involves many complex factors, beginning with coffee seed, the beans’ botanics, a wide variety of soil and climate conditions, cultivation altitudes, and the care taken in harvesting the beans. Raw green coffee beans are then subjected to many influences factors, including various processing, production, roasting, blending, and brewing methods. On a global note, the many species and varieties coffee trees from different areas of the world also offer their own distinctive flavors.

There are more than forty-five coffee exporting countries – all of which use different classification systems – that supply the world with coffee beans, in sizes ranging over sixty known species of coffee plants.

Coffee is second only to oil in terms of dollars traded worldwide. The word’s green (unroasted) coffee trade is valued at $14 billion annually. Five geographic coffee growing regions – South America, Central America, Asia, Africa and the word’s few coffee producing islands (which include Hawaii and Jamaica) – situated between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, where the climate is hot and humid. Within these regions lie the coffee producing countries that supply the world annually with 91 million sacks, each weighing an average of 132 pounds.

Other facts:

• South and Central America produce 70 percent of the world’s coffee supply.
• Asia and Africa produce 20 percent of the world’ coffee supply.
• Coffee producing islands (including Hawaii and Jamaica) account for the remaining production.
• Of the worldwide coffee market, arabica beans account for 75 to 80 percent; robusta beans for the remaining 20 – 25 percent.
  

World of Coffee

Coffee Plants in General

Coffee Plants in General
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 previously cited species. The height of adult coffee ranges from one foot to fifty feet, depending on the species. There are numerous varieties of Coffea arabica, which originated in Ethiopia. This coffee grows at altitude between 3,250 – 6,500 feet in Latin America, Reunion Island, and in Indonesia; this species represents 75% of coffee production world wide. Coffea canephora, second in production, is mainly in Africa and Indonesia. The most variety is robusta (95% of plantations of Coffea canephora). It is cultivated in Africa (West Africa, Uganda, Angola, South Africa, etc.) in the Far East (India, Indonesia, Philippines), in the South Sea Islands (New Caledonia) and in Brazil in regions where arabica cannot be grown because of climatic conditions.

The trunk of the coffee tree is straight and smooth, it branch 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; it 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 use to designate the fruit. It matures in six to fourteen months, depending on the variety. The fruit is covered by a very tough skill 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 to 40 – 65% of fruit’s weight, depending on the variety. The bean is formed of a horn like albumin (the endosperm) made up of starch, lipids, reducing sugars, sucrose, tannins, caffeine and 20% of water. Two envelops covers the endosperm, internal: spermoderm, external: endocarp.
Coffee Plants in General

Coffee Plant and World Production

Coffee Plant and World Production
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

Arabica Coffee Beans

Arabica Coffee Beans
There are about 20 major species within coffee, but the typical coffee beverage is likely to be familiar with just two: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Robusta. Arabica is autogamous. That is to say, capable of fertilizing itself, whereas Robusta us allogamous.

Arabica coffee beans or coffea Arabica species originated from Yemen and Ethiopia during pre-historic times. Also known as mountain Coffea Arabica, Coffea Arabica is now grown throughout Latin America, Central and East Africa, India and in some parts of Indonesia. The plant can only be grown in a tropical or subtropical climate.

Arabica coffee bean is considered better than any other coffee in the world and to be highest quality among. It is believed that coffea Arabica is the first species of coffee to be cultivated. The plant produces a small, bean sized fruit that ripens from a green color to a dark coffee bean. Coffea Arabica has a wide tasting range that will depend on its varieties. Coffea Arabica can have a sweet-soft taste and it can also have a sharp-tangy taste. Generally, pure Arabica blends are the best tasting coffee, a fact that is reflected in its higher price.

Coffea Arabica contains less caffeine than any other commercially cultivated. Coffea Arabica represents approximately 75 – 80% of the world’s coffee production. The plant is an evergreen, typically large bush with dark green that can reach height up to 20 feet.

Today, Americans are rediscovering the glories of coffee due to the rising popularity of coffee shops. Now coffee is not as simple as it was in the past. The rise of shops like Starbucks has created a whole new experience around the humble cup of coffee.
Arabica Coffee Beans

Coffee*

Coffee Beverage
The use of coffee as a refreshing beverage dates back at least 700 years although the first coffee house did not appear in London and Paris until about 1650. Its use as a food and as medicinal stimulant is lost in history.

The roasting of coffee beans to give the aroma and flavor, which is universally recognized and appreciated, started during the 13th century and the quality of the aromatic profile is still a matter of expertise in carrying out this process.

Coffee is a large evergreen shrub of which Coffee Arabica, L. and C.robusta, L. are the most important commercial species existing in many varieties. Several other species are encountered but these are of less importance; the flavor of these beans is generally considered to be less coarse, bitter and much less acceptable than that of C.arabica.
Coffee Beverage

Coffee Arabica

Coffee Beverage
The coffee plant is a woody perennial evergreen dicotyledon that belongs to the Rubiaceae family. It has a main vertical trunk (orthotropic) and primary, secondary, and tertiary horizontal branches (plagiotropic). Two main species of coffee are cultivated today. Coffea arabica known as Arabica coffee accounts for 75-80% of the world's production. Coffea canephora, known as Robusta coffee, is more robust than the Arabica plants, but produces an inferior tasting beverage with a higher caffeine content. The coffee plant can grow to heights of 10 meters if not pruned, but producing countries will maintain the coffee at a height reasonable for easy harvesting.

Arabica contains less caffeine than any other commercially cultivated species of coffee. Wild plants grow to between 7-12 m tall, and have an open branching system; the leaves are opposite, simple elliptic-ovate to oblong, 6-12 cm long and 4-8 cm broad, glossy dark green. The flowers are produced in axillary clusters, each flower white, and 1-1.5 cm diameter. The fruit is a berry 10-15 mm long, maturing bright red to purple, containing two seeds (the coffee 'bean').

Also used as a traditional medicine. Reported to be analgesic, anaphrodisiac, anorexic, antidotal, cardiotonic, CNS-stimulant, counterirritant, diuretic, hypnotic, lactagogue, nervine, stimulant, coffee is a folk remedy for asthma, atropine-poisoning, fever, flu, headache, jaundice, malaria, migraine, narcosis, nephrosis, opium-poisoning, sores, and vertigo.
Coffee Beverage