Have you ever wondered where does your coffee come from? Or how does it end up in your mug? Each and all stages of the coffee production process are crucial in creating a great end product. Today, That Coffee Roasters brings you an inside look at the overall cultivation process of coffee.
First things first, let’s explain botany. Coffee belongs to the Rubiaceae plants family (it’s cousins with gardenias and quinine).
Its natural habitat is at high altitudes. For the Arabica species, the optimum growth altitude is between 1000 – 2000 m above sea level, whereas for its Robusta counterpart it’s around 100 – 700 m above sea level.
Coffee fact: the higher the altitude, the more aromatic the beans result when ripe. Natural elements such as soil and climate also have a considerable influence on the flavor and aroma characteristics.
The coffee plant can grow to a great height, and that's why it’s often described as a coffee tree instead of a mere plant. On its natural habitat, coffee trees can grow as high as 10 meters. On most producing farms, these are pruned to a standard height which is most comfortable for harvesting.
The flowers of the coffee plant are white and smell similar to those of jasmine and orange. Coffee plants flower at different times: Coffea arabica flowers after rain, while Robusta flowers have an irregular blossoming pattern.
The coffee fruit is similar to the cherry in size and color, as it goes ripe, it becomes darker. The berries are ripe for picking about nine months after their flowering.
Not all species ripen at the same time, so a single tree is picked several times per season. Each fruit contains no more than two coffee beans. Coffee beans, which are the seeds, grow pressed together inside the berries, like peas in a pod.
The coffee bean comes from the fruit (often called cherry or berry) of the plant, which is actually the plant's fruit. It’s then produced after the withering of their flowers. They take six to 14 months to ripen, depending on the species of tree.
Cultivation 101: How is the coffee plant grown
Coffee grows better in the tropics, the region between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn specifically, in different parts of the globe. The biggest coffee producing countries as of today are Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.
Said countries mainly grow coffee as part of their export income. For example, Brazil exports around 23,000,000 bean sacks per year, and each sack weighs no less than 60 kg.
Coffee is cultivated in countries of tropical Latin America, Asia, and Africa. It grows best in places with rich, fertile soil, with reliable rainfall and altitudes between 3000 and 6000 feet. As a rule, the higher elevation results in better coffee quality, aroma, and flavor.
Cold weather and frosts can be a severe threat to a coffee crop. Coffee grown above 3,937 feet is considered to be top notch.
As briefly mentioned above, this plant needs plenty of rain to grow, approximately 1,500 – 2,000 mm of rainfall a year. The temperature for growth is different for each species: for Arabica it’s 15 – 24 ˚C, and for Robusta it is 24 – 30 ˚C respectively, as coffee is vulnerable to frost.
Robusta beans grow better in the open sun (abundant in African and Latin American countries). They are often cultivated in plantations where they are fertilized with a variety of protective and nutritive chemicals, helping them to grow fast. Robusta trees reach their peak when they turn seven years old and can keep producing nonstop until they are eighteen (old age for a coffee tree), this means that farmers have to wait no less than seven years for their first successful crop.
That’s how the cookie crumbles, or better said, that’s how coffee is cultivated! Leave your comments and questions on the section below, and follow us on out That Coffee Roasters social networks.
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