A coffee bean is a fruit from 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, and like the cherry, it is a 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 most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together. A small percentage of cherries contain a single seed, instead of the usual two, 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. Like Brazil nuts (a seed) and white rice, coffee beans consist mostly of endosperm.
The two most economically important varieties of coffee plants are the Arabica and the Robusta; approximately 60% of the coffee produced worldwide is Arabica and ~40% is Robusta. Arabica beans consist of 0.8–1.4% caffeine and Robusta beans consist of 1.7–4.0% caffeine. 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. In 2017, 70% of total coffee production was exported, worth US$19.9 billion.
History
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. 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
Brazil produces about 45% of the world's total coffee exports. 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.
Coffee plants grow within a defined area between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, termed the bean belt or coffee belt.
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.
Coffee plant
The coffee tree averages from in height. As the tree gets older, it produces less fruit and slowly loses any pest- and disease-resistance. The coffee beans come from the seeds which contained in fruits from trees and shrubs naturally grown in African forests. Humans produce coffee by roasting, grinding and brewing the green coffee beans.
Coffee plants are often grown in rows spaced 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 and Robusta between and receive between of rainfall per year. 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.
Processing
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.