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The Origin of the Coffee Plant





When we fix our morning cup of Joe, we scarcely, if ever, meditate the origin of the tasty brew. We all know it's expensive but, for most, a necessary refreshment, which we pick up at the grocery in bags or cans. Do you conceive what the coffee plant looks like? Do you perceive coffee beans bristling off the branches? Just how does it end up as the savory beverage we all love? The story of the coffee plant is engaging indeed.

The coffee plant came from Africa's tropical forests. Quite a few say the first coffee drinker was an Ethiopian goat herder, who upon noticing his herds' frisky behavior following the consumption of the coffee berries, decided to try quite a lot of them for himself. The rest is in the annals.

Although there are roughly 25 species of the genus Coffea, only two are grown commercially and impending for our coffee cups. These are the Arabica and Robusta coffee plants. Of both species, quite a lot of are available as domestic plants, more as a conversation piece than anything else.

The Arabica coffee plant grows in a tree-like shape, with a single trunk, with branches growing outward from the central trunk. The smaller of the two plants, the Arabica produces a greater bean, richer in flavor and complexity of taste.

The Robusta coffee plant is more shrub-like in its appearance, with many smaller trunks. The beans of the Robusta coffee plant does not match the fine complex taste of the Arabica. Even if the Robusta coffee bean contains more caffeine, it tends to have bitter flavor notes which are typically undesirable.

If left free, coffee plants could grow well more than 30 feet high. To enable easily managed harvesting, commercial growers prune the plants to a height of just eight to fifteen feet.

Coffee plants, grown in perfect conditions, have large, dark green leaves, with a waxy surface, about four to six inches long and about half as wide. The flowers are white, aromatic and are produced in thick clusters along the branches.

It takes more than eight months from flowering to generate a ripe coffee "cherry" suitable for harvest. The cherries generally contain two beans. The cherry is ripe for picking when the cherry attains a luminous red hue. Coffee beans do not ripen all at once, for that reason remarkable attention and quite a few harvests are necessary to pick one tree's bounty at a state of excellence. This accounts, in some part, for the high priced cost of the finished product.

Large commercial growers, producing the run-of-the-mill canned coffees typically blend the two types of beans, looking for a sufficient balance between rosy taste and reduced cost of production. You'll find that the so-called "gourmet" coffees are most frequently labeled "100% Arabica". Even though they're more costly, there's a world of difference in the taste. Ounce-for-ounce, you may find the Arabica merchandise just as affordable.

When you consider this luxury, remember: one coffee plant produces just one pound of coffee each year! Cheers!