Coffee - Bean Growing
January 10th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
For a tree grown in over 70 countries, from Indonesia to Brazil, it’s curious how narrow a range of conditions is required to produce quality ‘beans’ and how relatively small the total output is.
The word ‘beans’ is deliberately in single-quote marks, since the thing that gets roasted and ground to make the drink isn’t really a bean at all, it’s a seed.
In particular, it’s the seed of a fruit that grows on trees that can easily reach twenty feet or more. Some wild varieties grow to over 45 feet or 15m. Most of those seeds come in a pair, though there is a variety that produces only one (the peaberry). The berry resembles a cranberry, with a sweet pulp covered by a membrane called a silverskin.
In a band around the equator from approximately 25 degrees north or south, comes the overwhelming majority of the world’s coffee output. Temperatures of between 60F (15C) and 70F (21C) are best as is rainfall of six inches per month or more.
Loamy, good-draining soil is needed and also helpful is high humidity - plenty of mist and cloud at the high elevations, over 3000 ft (915m) for the good stuff. At these elevations the oxygen content is lower, so the trees take longer to mature.
The robusta, or coffea canephora, goes into making the majority of coffee because it can be grown at lower altitudes and is more disease resistant. But it’s the high-altitude coffea arabica that forms the base of a gourmet cup.
Diffuse light and moderate winds are helpful, both of which are sometimes produced by deliberately growing in the shelter and shade. By contrast, wine grapes like hot sun and lots of it.
Once planted, the tree takes about five years to mature to first crop and even then a single tree will only make enough for about two pounds (1 kilogram) of coffee.
Those two pounds equal about 2,000 beans, (correct or not, it’s the standard term), usually hand-picked by manual laborers. Manual they may be, but ignorant they are not. Coffee bean harvesting is a skill developed over time, where the picker learns to select good beans and discard the bad. Bean by individual bean. That’s only one reason coffee is high priced.
The trees have broad, dark green leaves and produce a flower that resembles Jasmine. Some - in Brazil and Mexico, for example, - blossom over a six to eight week period. In countries that lie along the equator such as Kenya and Colombia, though, a tree can have mature berries growing alongside still ripening ones. That’s part of what makes picking such a specialty.
Blossom to harvest may cover a period of up to nine months depending on the weather and other factors and the cycle will be carried out for the life of the tree - about 20-25 years. With the best cultivation technology, a good harvest will be between 6,600 lbs (3,000 kg) and 8,800 lbs (4,000 kg) per hectare. (One hectare is about 2.47 acres.)
From these inaccessible regions, where conditions are harsh, the berries are brought down and processed to make up the world’s second largest commodity (by annual dollar volume).
So, the next time you savor that brew, give a thought to the long journey it traveled to reach your cup. It might make that high price seem less steep.
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A Glimpse into the Two Main Types of Coffee Plants
December 14th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
There are many types of coffee plants, but there are only two main species of the coffee plant. The two main species of the coffee plant are the Coffea arabica and the Coffea canephora (robusta), whereas arabica is the eldest of the two. Robusta contains 40 to 50 percent more caffeine than arabica, and can be cultivated in environments that are not suited for the growth of arabica, which has led to its use as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in commercial coffee blends. The taste of robusta is bitter and has little flavor, compared with arabica, and has a “burnt rubber” or “wet cardboard” aroma and flavor. The best quality robusta plants are used as ingredients in espresso blends, which provide a better foamy head and lower ingredient costs. Many of Italy’s espresso blends are based on dark-roasted robusta.
The arabica coffees are named for the region of the world they are exported from, with the two oldest being Mocha, from Yemen, and Java, from Indonesia. However, the names have become more specific, telling the country, region, and sometimes the estate the coffee plant comes from. The arabica coffee plant is known for making traditional coffee, and is known to have a much better taste than robusta. Arabica and robusta have sub-varieties, like the way a winery has many different blends of wine. Mocha and Java are the traditional varieties of arabica, while robusta has an exotic and very expensive gourmet variety known as Kopi Luwak. This coffee bean is unique because the beans are gathered from the droppings of the Common Palm Civet, which is an animal whose digestive processes give the bean a distinctive flavor. However, most varieties of coffee plants are not as odd as the Kopi Luwak.
Where a robusta or arabica species of coffee plant is grown, can affect how the plant grows and how the bean tastes. Arabica is a species that is indigenous to Ethiopia, and may also be known as the coffee shrub of Arabia, mountain coffee or arabica coffee. The Coffea arabica is known to be the first species of coffee cultivated, being grown in southwest Arabia more than 1,000 years ago. Arabica is also considered to produce better quality coffee than robusta. It also contains less caffeine than robusta, but is still preferred for its taste, as taste matters more today. The arabica plants grow wildy, and can grow between 7 and 12 m tall with an open branching system. The leaves of the plant may be elliptic-ovate to oblong, and may be 6 to 12 cm long and 4 to 8 cm broad, glossy and dark green. Its flowers are produced in auxiliary clusters, and the flowers are white and approximately 1 to 11/2 cm in diameter.
The fruits of the arabica plants are berries, and measure 10 to 15 mm long, mature to bright red or purple colors and contain two coffee beans. Robusta trees are grown exclusively in the eastern hemisphere, but may thrive in equatorial climates at low altitudes. The plant’s berries require less care than arabicas’ because they remain on the tree after they ripen. The beans of the robusta have twice as much caffeine as they arabica, but the flavor is far less. Most brands of coffee beans found in supermarkets are robusta. Arabica beans are most commonly found in coffee shops. One third of the coffee produced in the world is robusta. Robusta is mostly grown in Africa and Brazil, where it is known as Conillon. It is considered a less quality of coffee, so it is limited to lower grade coffee blends as filler. The robusta beans may also be included in instant coffee, and of course in some espresso blends to enhance the formation of crema(foamy head).
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