History of Coffee Essay

Coffee is one of the populaces most poplar beverages. Some claim it is the most widely consumed liquid in the man aside from piss. Coffee is more than a beverage , however. It is a memory , anticipation, a lifetime of consoling moments of modest pleasure woven into our lives. Coffees success as a beverage undoubtedly owes both to the caffeine it harbors and to its sensory pleasure. Coffee lovers come to associate the energizing lift of the caffeine with malodorousness and aroma of the beverage that delivers it.Coffee is mystifyn in more than 50 countries around the world and the principal commercial crop of over a 12 countries, half of which earns 25% to 50% of their foreign exchange revenue from umber exports. More than 10 billion pounds of hot choco tardily beans argon maturen per year, providing more than 20 million jobs. Coffee is indigenous to Ethiopia and was most likely discovered as a feed before it became a drink. The most popular legend of how cocoa was discover ed involves an Abyssinian goat herder named kaldi. Kaldi awoke one night to find his goats dancing around a direct speckled with red cherries.When he tasted one of the cherries, he too started dancing with the goats. As interesting as this story whitethorn be it is more likely that umber was used as a food supplement by wandering Ethiopian tribes-men. The tribes-men are said to turn out squashed the burnt umber bean cherries and carried them on long journeys, eating them for nourishment as needed. Later, the chocolate cherries were soaked in water, possibly to make wine, just now closely historians say it was not until 1000 AD, when the Arabs discovered how to boil, that chocolate cull was serve hot.Coffee was also believed to seduce medicinal properties. Avicenna, an Islamic physician and philosopher of the eleventh century, said of deep brown It fortifies the members, it cleans the skin and dries up the humilities that are under it, and gives an excellent smell to a ll the body CHAPTER 1 HISTORY OF coffee bean HISTORY OF COFFEE pic Palestinian women grinding coffee the old fashioned way, 1905 The history of coffee goes at least as farthest back as the fifteenth century, though coffees simple eyes remain unclear.It had been believed that Ethiopian ancestors of todays Oromo people were the for the first time to have discovered and recognize the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant. However, no direct evidence has been order indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the primaevals efficacy have used it as a stimulant or even k nowadaysn around it, earlier than the 17th century. The story of Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd who discovered coffee, did not come out of the closet in writing until 1671 and is probably apocryphal. From Ethiopia, coffee was said to have scatter to Egypt and Yemen.The arliest credible evidence of both coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee manoeuver appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen. It was here in Arabia that coffee beans were first roasted and brewed, in a similar way to how it is now ready. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle east, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. Coffee therefore spread to Italy, and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and tothe Americas. Origins Etymology The vocalise coffee entered English in 1598 via Dutch koffie.This word was created via Turkish kahve, the Turkish pronunciation Arabic qahwa, a truncation of qahhwat al-bun or wine of the bean. One possible origin of the name is the Kingdom of Kaffa in Ethiopia, where the coffee plant originated its name on that point is bunn or bunna. Legendary accounts. There are several(prenominal) legendary accounts of the origin of the drink itself. One account involves the Yemenite Sufi inscrutable Shaikh ash-Shadhili. When traveling in Ethiopia, the legend goes he observed goats of unusual vitality, and, upon tryin g the berries that the goats had been eating, experienced the same vitality.A similar Legend of Dancing Goats attri merelyes the discovery of coffee to an Ethiopian goatherder named Kaldi. The story of Kaldi did not appear in writing until 1671, and these stories are considered to be apocryphal. It used to be believed Ethiopian ancestors of todays Oromo tribe, were the first to have recognized the energizing effect of the native coffee plant.Studies of genetic diversity have been performed on genus genus Coffea arabica varieties, found to be of low diversity but which retained some residual heterozygosity from ancestral materials, and tight-related diploid species Coffea rumpephora and C.liberica however, no direct evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it as a stimulant, or cognise about it there, earlier than the seventeenth century.The Muslim world The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge Of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in the Sufi monasteries of the Yemen in southern Arabia.It was in Yemen that coffee beans were first roasted and brewed as they are today. From mocha coffee, coffee spread to Egypt and North Africa, and by the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle eastmost, Persia and Turkey. From the Muslim world, coffee drinking spread to Italy, thusly to the rest of Europe, and coffee plants were transported by the Dutch to the East Indies and to the Americas. Syrian Bedouin from a beehive village in Aleppo, Syria, sipping the traditional murra (bitter) coffee, 1930.The earliest mention of coffee noted by the literary coffee merchant Philippe Sylvestre Dufour is a reference to bunchum in the works of the 10th century CE Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, known as Rhazes in the West, but more definite information on the preparation of a beverage from the roasted coffee berries dates from seve ral centuries later. The most meaning(a) of the early writers on coffee was io-de-caprio, who in 1587 compiled a work tracing the history and legal controversies of coffee entitled Umdat al safwa fi hill al-qahwa.He account that one Sheikh, Jamal-al-Din al-Dhabhani, mufti of Aden, was the first to adopt the use of coffee (circa 1454). Coffees usefulness in driving away sleep made it popular among Sufis. A translation traces the spread of coffee from Arabia Felix (the present day Yemen) northward to Mecca and Medina, and then to the with child(p)r cities of Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Istanbul. Coffee beans were first exported from Ethiopia to Yemen. Yemeni traders brought coffee back to their homeland and began to put to work the bean. The first coffeehouse opened in Istanbul in 1554.Coffee was at first not well received. In 1511, it was forbidden for its stimulating effect by conservative, orthodox imams at a theological court in Mecca. However, the popularity of the drink le d these bans to be overturned in 1524 by an order of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Selim I, with Grand Mufti Mehmet Ebussuud el-Imadi issuing a celebrated fatwa allowing the utilisation of coffee. In Cairo, Egypt, a similar ban was instituted in 1532, and the coffeehouses and warehouses containing coffee beans were sacked. Similarly, coffee was banned by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church some time before the 12th century.However, in the second half of the 19th century, Ethiopian attitudes softened towards coffee drinking, and its consumption spread chop-chop between 1880 and 1886 according to Richard Pankhurst, this was largely due to Emperor Menilek, who himself drank it, and to Abuna Matewos who did much to dispel the belief of the clergy that it was a Muslim drink. Europe pic Dutch engraving of Mocha in 1692 Coffee was noted in Ottoman Aleppo by the German physician botanist Leonhard Rauwolf, the first European to mention it, as chaube, in 1573 Rauwolf was closely followed by descrip tions from other European travellers.Coffee was first imported to Italy from the Ottoman Empire. The vibrant trade between Venice and the Muslims in North Africa, Egypt, and the East brought a large variety of African goods, including coffee, to this leading European port. Venetian merchants introduced coffee-drinking to the wealthy in Venice, charging them heavily for the beverage. In this way, coffee was introduced to Europe. Coffee became more widely accepted aft(prenominal) controversy over whether it was acceptable during Lent was settled in its favor by Pope Clement VIII in 1600, despite appeals to ban the drink.The first European coffee house (apart from those in the Ottoman Empire, mentioned above) was opened in Venice in 1645. England Largely through the efforts of the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, coffee became available in England no later than the 16th century according to Leonhard Rauwolfs 1583 account. The first coffeehouse in England wa s opened in St. Michaels Alley in Cornhill. The proprietor was Pasqua Rosee, the servant of Daniel Edwards, a trader in Turkish goods. Edwards imported the coffee and assisted Rosee in setting up the establishment.Oxfords Queens Lane Coffee House, established in 1654, is still in existence today. By 1675, there were more than 3,000 coffeehouses throughout England. Popularity of coffeehouses spread rapidly in Europe, and later, America. The banning of women from coffeehouses was not universal, but does appear to have been common in Europe. In Ger some women frequented them, but in England they were banned. Many believed coffee to have several medicinal properties in this period. For example, a 1661 tract entitled A character of coffee and coffee-houses, written by one M. P. , lists some of these perceived virtuesNot everyone was in favour of this new commodity, however. For example, the anonymous 1674 Womens Petition against Coffee declared France Antoine Galland (1646-1715) in his a forementioned translation described the Muslim association with coffee, tea and chocolate We are indebted to these great Arab physicians for introducing coffee to the modern world through their writings, as well as sugar, tea, and chocolate. Galland reported that he was informed by Mr. de la Croix, the interpreter of King Louis XIV of France, that coffee was brought to Paris by a authentic Mr. Thevenot, who had travelled through the East.On his return to that city in 1657, Thevenot gave some of the beans to his friends, one of whom was de la Croix. However, the major spread of the popularity of this beverage in Paris was soon to come. In 1669, Soleiman Agha, Ambassador from Sultan Mehmed IV, arrived in Paris with his entourage legal transfer with him a large quantity of coffee beans. Not sole(prenominal) did they bequeath their French and European guests with coffee to drink, but they also donated some beans to the royal court. among July 1669 and May 1670, the Ambassador man aged to firmly establish the custom of drinking coffee among Parisians. pic.Melange in Vienna Austria The first coffeehouse in Austria opened in Vienna in 1683 after the Battle of Vienna, by using supplies from the spoils obtained after defeating the Turks. The officer who received the coffee beans, Polish military officer of Ukrainian origin Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, opened the coffee house and helped popularize the custom of adding sugar and milk to the coffee. Until recently, this was celebrated in Viennese coffeehouses by hanging a picture of Kulczycki in the window. Melange is the typical Viennese coffee, which comes mixed with hot foamed milk and a glass of water.Netherlands The race among Europeans to make off with some live coffee trees or beans was eventually won by the Dutch in the late 17th century, when they allied with the natives of Kerala against the Portuguese and brought some live plants back from Malabar to Holland, where they were grown in greenhouses. The Dutch began growing coffee at their forts in Malabar, India, and in 1699 took some to Batavia in Java, in what is now Indonesia. Within a few years the Dutch colonies (Java in Asia, Surinam in Americas) had become the main suppliers of coffee to Europe. Americas.Gabriel de Clieu brought coffee seedlings to Martinique in the Caribbean circa 1720. Those sprouts flourished and 50 years later there were 18,680 coffee trees in Martinique enabling the spread of coffee cultivation to Haiti, Mexico and other islands of the Caribbean. Coffee also found its way to the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean known as the Isle of Bourbon. The plant produced small beans and was deemed a different variety of Arabica known as var. Bourbon. The Santos coffee of brazil and the Oaxaca coffee of Mexico are the progeny of that Bourbon tree.Circa 1727, the Emperor of Brazil sent Francisco de Mello Palheta to French ginzo to obtain coffee seeds to become a part of the coffee market. Francisco initially had difficulty obtaining these seeds yet he captivated the French Governors married woman and she in turn, sent him enough seeds and shoots which would commence the coffee industry of Brazil. In 1893, the coffee from Brazil was introduced into Kenya and Tanzania (Tanganyika), not far from its place of origin in Ethiopia, 600 years prior, ending its transcontinental journey. The French colonial plantations relied heavily on African slave laborers.Ancient Production of coffee The first step in Europeans wresting the agent of production was effected by Nicolaes Witsen, the enterprising burgomaster of Amsterdam and member of the governing board of the Dutch East India Company who urged Joan van Hoorn, the Dutch governor at Batavia that some coffee plants be obtained at the export port of Mocha in Yemen, the source of Europes supply, and established in the Dutch East Indies the project of raising many an(prenominal) plants from the seeds of the first shipment met with such(prenominal) succ ess that the Dutch East India Company was able to supply Europes posit with Java coffee by 1719.Encouraged by their success, they soon had coffee plantations in Ceylon Sumatra and other Sunda islands. Coffee trees were soon grown under glass at the Hortus Botanicus of Leiden, whence slips were generously extended to other botanical gardens. Dutch representatives at the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Utrecht presented their French counter move with a coffee plant, which was grown on at the Jardin du Roi, predecessor of the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris.The introduction of coffee to the Americas was effected by Captain Gabriel des Clieux, who obtained cuttings from the reluctant botanist Antoine de Jussieu, who was loath to disfigure the kings coffee tree. Clieux, when water rations dwindled during a difficult voyage, shared his portion with his precious plants and protected them from a Dutchman, perhaps an agent of the Provinces jealous of the Batavian trade.Clieux nurtured t he plants on his arrival in the West Indies, and established them in Guadeloupe and Saint- Domingue in addition to Martinique, where a b uncontaminating had struck the cacao plantations, which were replaced by coffee plantations in a space of one-third years, is attributed to France through its colonization of many parts of the continent starting with the Martinique and the colonies of the West Indies where the first French coffee plantations were founded. The first coffee plantation in Brazil occurred in 1727 when Lt. Col.Francisco de Melo Palheta smuggled seeds, still essentially from the germ plasm originally taken from Yemen to Batavia, from French Guiana. By the 1800s, Brazils harvests would turn coffee from an elite group indulgence to a drink for the masses. Brazil, which like most other countries cultivates coffee as a commercial commodity, relied heavily on slave labor from Africa for the viability of the plantations until the abolition of slavery in 1888. The success of c offee in 17th-century Europe was paralleled with the spread of the habit of tobacco smoking all over the continent during the course of the cardinal Years War (161848).For many decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazil was the biggest manufacturer of coffee and a virtual monopolist in the trade. However, a policy of maintaining high prices soon opened opportunities to other nations, such as Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Indonesia and Vietnam, now second only to Brazil as the major coffee producer in the world. Large-scale production in Vietnam began following normalization of trade relations with the US in 1995. Nearly all of the coffee grown there is Robusta.Despite the origins of coffee cultivation in Ethiopia, that art slight produced only a small amount for export until the Twentieth Century, and much of that not from the south of the country but from the environs of Harar in the northeast. The Kingdom of Kaffa, home of the plant, was estimated to produce between 50,000 and 60,000 kilograms of coffee beans in the 1880s. Commercial production effectively began in 1907 with the founding of the midland port of Gambela, and greatly increased afterwards 100,000 kilograms of coffee was exported from Gambela in 1908, while in 1927-8 over 4 million kilograms passed through that port.Coffee plantations were also highly-developed in Arsi Province at the same time, and were eventually exported by means of the Addis Ababa Djibouti Railway. While only 245,000 kilograms were freighted by the Railway, this amount jumped to 2,240,000 kilograms by 1922, surpassed exports of Harari coffee by 1925, and reached 9,260,000 kilograms in 1936. Australia is a minor coffee producer, with little product for export, but its coffee history goes back to 1880 when the first of 500acres (2. 0km2) began to be developed in an area between northern New South Wales and Cooktown.Today there are several producers of Arabica coffee in Australia that use a mechanical harvesting system invented in 1981. *** CHAPTER 2 INSIGHT ON COFFEE INSIGHT ON COFFEE Coffee pic Roasted coffee beans typeface Hot or cold beverage Country of origin Ethiopia, andYemen Introduced Approx. 15th century AD (beverage) Color Brown Coffeeis abreweddrinkprepared from roastedseeds, usually calledcoffee beans, of thecoffee plant. They are seeds of coffee cherries that grow on trees in over 70 countries. Green coffee, for example, is one of the most traded hoidenish commodities in the world.Due to itscaffeinecontent, coffee can have a stimulating effect in humans. Today, coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide. It is sentiment that the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant was first recognized inYemenin Arabia and the north east ofEthiopia, and the cultivation of coffee first expand in the Arabworld. The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the fifteenth century, in theSufimonasteries of theYemenin southernArabia. From th eMuslim world, coffee spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, toIndonesia, and to the Americas.Coffee has played an important role in many societies throughout history. In Africa and Yemen, it was used in religious ceremonies. As a result, theEthiopian Churchbanned its secular consumption until the reign of EmperorMenelik II of Ethiopia. It was banned inOttomanTurkey during the 17th century for policy-making reasons,and was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe. Coffee berries, which contain the coffee bean, are produced by several species of smallevergreenbush of thegenusCoffea. The two most commonly grown areCoffea canephora(also known asCoffea robusta) andCoffea arabica.Both are cultivate primarily inLatinAmerica,Southeast Asia, and Africa. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways. An important export commodity, coffee was the top agricultural export for 12 countries in 2004,and in 2005, it was the worlds seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value. Some controversy is associated with coffee cultivation and its impact on the environment.Many studies have examined the relationship between coffee consumption and certain medical conditions whether the overall effects of coffee are ultimately positive or negative has been widely disputed. However, the method of brewing coffee has been found to be important. Biology Several species of shrub of the genusCoffeaproduce the berries from which coffee is extracted.The two main cultivated species,Coffea canephora(also known asCoffea robusta) andC. arabica, are native to subtropical Africa and southern Asia. Less popular species areC.liberica,excelsa,stenophylla,mauritiana, andracemosa.They are classified in the large familyRubiaceae. They areevergreenshrubs or small trees that may grow 5m (15ft) tall when unpruned. The leaves are dark green and glossy, usually 1015cm (4-6in) long and 6cm (2. 4in) wide. Clusters of sweet-smelling white flowers bloom simultaneously and are followed by oval berries of about 1. 5cm. Green when immature, they ripen to yellow, then crimson, before turning black on drying. Each berry usually contains two seeds, but 510% of the berrieshave only one these are calledpeaberries.Berries ripen in seven to nightclub months. Cultivation Coffee is usually propagated by seeds. The traditional method of planting coffee is to put 20seeds in each hole at the source of therainy season half are eliminated naturally. A more effective method of growing coffee, used in Brazil, is to raise seedlings in nurseries, which are then planted outside at 6 to 12months. Coffee is often intercropped with food crops, such as corn, beans, or rice, during the first few years of cultivation. pic. role showing areas of coffee cultivation rCoffea canephora mCoffea canephoraandCoffea arabica aCoffea arabica Of the two main species grown, arabica coffee (fromC. arabica) is considered more fitted for drinking than robusta coffee (fromC. canephora) robusta tends to be bitter and have less flavor but erupt body than arabica. For these reasons, about three-quarters of coffee cultivated worldwide isC. arabica. However,C. canephorais less susceptible to disease thanC. arabicaand can be cultivated inenvironmentswhereC. arabicawill not thrive. Robusta coffee also contains about 4050% more caffeine than arabica.For this reason, it is used as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in many commercial coffee blends. Good quality robustas are used in someespressoblends to provide a better foam head, a wax-bodied result, and to lower the ingredient cost. The speciesCoffea libericaandCoffea esliacaare believed to be indigenous toLiberiaand southernSudan, respectively. Most arabica coffee beans originate from eitherLatin America,eastern Africa, Arabia, or A sia. Robusta coffee beans are grown in western andcentral Africa, throughoutsoutheast Asia, and to some period in Brazil.Beans from different countries or regions can usually be distinguished by differences in flavor, aroma,body, or acidity. These taste characteristics are dependent not only on the coffees growing region, but also on genetic subspecies (varietals) and processing. Varietals are generally known by the region in which they are grown, such asColombian,JavaorKona. Production Brazilis the world leader in production of green coffee, followed byVietnamandColombiathe last of which produces a muchsofter coffee.Top twenty green coffee producers Tonnes (2007) and Bags thousands (2007) Country Tonnes Bags thousands picBrazil 2,249,010 36,070 picVietnam 961,200 16,467 picColombia 697,377 12,515 picIndonesia 676,475 7,751 picEthiopia 325,800 4,906 picIndia 288,000 4,148 picMexico 268,565 4,150 picGuatemala 252,000 4,100 picPeru 225,992 2,953 picHonduras 217,951 3,842 picCote dIvoire 170,849 2,150 picUganda 168,000 3,250 picCosta Rica 124,055 1,791 picPhilippines 97,877 431 picEl.Salvador 95,456 1,626 picNicaragua 90,909 1,700 picPapua New Guinea 75,400 968 picVenezuela 70,311 897 picMadagascarnote 2 62,000 604 picThailand 55,660 653 World 7,742,675 117,319 Ecological effects pic pic A floweringCoffea arabicatree in a Brazilian plantation Originally, coffee farming was done in theshadeof trees, which provided a habitat for many animals and insects. This method is commonly referred to as the traditional shaded method, or shade-grown.Many farmers switched their production method to sun cultivation, in which coffee is grown in rows under full sun with little or no forest canopy. This causes berries to ripen more rapidly and bushes to produce higher yields, but requires the clearing of trees and increased use of plant food and pesticides, which damage the environment and cause health problems. When compared to the sun cultivation method, traditional coffee production causes berries to ripen more slowly and produce lower yields, but the quality of the coffee is allegedly superior.In addition, the traditional shaded method is environmentally friendly and provides living space for many wildlife species. Opponents of sun cultivation say environmental problems such as deforestation, pesticide pollution,habitat destruction, and soil and water degradation are the side effects of these practices. TheAmerican Birding Association,Smithsonian Migratory Bird- Center, Rainforest Alliance, and theArbor Day insertionhave led a campaign for shade-grown andorganic coffees, which it says are sustainably harvested.However, while certain types of shaded coffee cultivation systems show greater biodiversity than full-sun systems, they still compare seedy to native forest in terms of habitat value. Another issue concerning coffee is itsuse of water. According toNew Scientist, if using industrial farming practices, it takes about 140 lit ers of water to grow the coffee beans needed to produce one cup of coffee, and the coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage, such asEthiopia.By using sustainable agriculturemethods, the amount of water usagecan be dramatically reduced, while retaining comparable yields. Coffee grounds may be used forcompostingor as amulch. They are especially appreciated bywormsandacid-loving plantssuch asblueberries. *** CHAPTER 3 TYPES OF COFFEE TYPES OF COFFEE Coffea Arabica Scientific classification Kingdom Plantae (unranked) Angiosperms (unranked) Eudicots (unranked) Asterids Order Gentianales Family Rubiaceae Genus Coffea Species C. arabica Binomial name Coffea arabica .Coffea arabica is a species of coffee originally indigenous to the mountains of Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula, hence its name, and also from the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. It is also known as the coffee shrub of Arabia, mountain coffee or arabica coffee. Co ffea arabica is believed to be the first species of coffee to be cultivated, being grown in southwest Arabia for well over 1,000 years. It is considered to produce better coffee than the other major commercially grown coffee species, Coffea canephora (robusta). Arabica contains less caffeine than any other commercially cultivated species of coffee.Wild plants grow to between 9 and 12 m tall, and have an open branching system the leaves are opposite, simple elliptic-ovate to oblong, 612cm long and 48cm broad, glossy dark green. The flowers are white, 1015mm in diameter and grow in axillary clusters. The fruit is a drupe (though commonly called a berry) 1015mm in diameter, maturing bright red to purple and typically contain two seeds (the coffee bean). Distribution and habitat Originally found in the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia, Coffea arabica is now rare there in its native state, and many populations appear to be mixed native and planted trees.It is common there as an under storey shrub. It has also been recovered from the Boma Plateau in southeastern Sudan. Coffea arabica is also found on Mt Marsabit in northern Kenya, but it is unclear whether this is a truly native or naturalised occurrence. Yemen is also believed to have native Coffea arabica growing in fields. Cultivation Coffea arabica takes about seven years to mature fully and does best with 1- 1. 5 meters (about 40-59inches) of rain, evenly distributed throughout the year. It is usually cultivated between 1,300 and 1,500 m altitude, but there are plantations as low as sea level and as high as 2,800 m.The plant can tolerate low temperatures, but not frost, and it does best when the temperature hovers around 20 C (68 F). Commercial cultivars mostly only grow to about 5 m, and are frequently trimmed as low as 2 m to facilitate harvesting. Unlike Coffea canephora, Coffea arabica prefers to be grown in light shade. Two to four years after planting Coffea arabica produces small, white and highly fra grant flowers. The sweet fragrance resembles the sweet smell of jasmine flowers. When flowers open on sunny days, this results in the greatest numbers of berries.This can be a curse however as coffee plants tend to produce too many berries this can lead to an inferior harvest and even damage yield in the following years as the plant will favor the change of berries to the detriment of its own health. On well kept plantations this is prevented by pruning the tree. The flowers themselves only last a few days leaving behind only the thick dark green leaves. The berries then begin to appear. These are as dark green as the foliage, until they begin to ripen, at first to yellow and then light red and finally darkening to a glossy deep red.At this point they are called cherries and are ready for picking. The berries are oblong and about 1cm long. Inferior coffee results from picking them too early or too late, so many are picked by hand to be able to better select them, as they do not all ripen at the same time. They are sometimes shaken off the tree onto mats, which means that ripe and unripe berries are collected together. The trees are difficult to cultivate and each tree can produce anywhere from 0. 55kg of dried beans, depending on the trees individual character and the climate that season.The real prize of this cash crop are the beans inside. Each berry holds two locules containing the beans. The coffee beans are actually two seeds within the fruit there is sometimes a third seed or one seed, a peaberry in the fruits at tips of the branches. These seeds are covered in two membranes, the outer one is called the parchment and the inner one is called the silver skin. In correct conditions, like those of Java, trees are planted at all times of the year and are harvested year round. In less ideal conditions, like those in parts of Brazil, the trees have a season and are harvested only in winter.The plants are vulnerable to damage in poor growing conditions and are also more vulnerable to pests than the Robusta plant. Gourmet coffees are almost exclusively high-quality mild varieties of coffea arabica, like Colombian coffee. Arabica coffee production in Indonesia began in 1699. Indonesian coffees, such as Sumatran and Java, are known for heavy body and low acidity. This makes them ideal for blending with the higher acidity coffees from Central America and East Africa. Coffea canephora Scientific classification Kingdom Plantae (unranked) Angiosperms (unranked) Eudicots (unranked) Asterids Order Gentianales Family Rubiaceae Genus Coffea .Species C. canephora Binomial name Coffea canephora Coffea canephora (Robusta Coffee Coffea robusta) is a species of coffee which has its origins in central and western subsaharan Africa. It is grown mostly in Africa and Brazil, where it is often called Conillon. It is also grown in Southeast Asia where French colonists introduced it in the late 19th century. In recent years Vietnam, which only prod uces robusta, has surpassed Brazil, India, and Indonesia to become the worlds single largest exporter.Approximately one third of the coffee produced in the world is robusta. Canephora is easier to care for than the other major species of coffee, Coffea arabica, and, because of this, is cheaper to produce. Since arabica beans are often considered superior, robusta is usually limited to lower grade coffee blends as filler. It is however often include in instant coffee, and in espresso blends to promote the formation of crema. Robusta has about twice as much caffeine as arabica.