Coffee Bean Plant

The coffee bean plant is grown in about 70 countries throughout the world but there are two major points that are common to all coffee plants.

1. A certain set of growing conditions need to exist for the coffee plants to flourish.

2. The fruit of the coffee plant, or strictly speaking, the coffee tree is actually a seed not a bean, however we will continue to use the word bean.

Coffee plants will very easily grow to in excess of twenty feet tall and when growing wild, i.e. not being checked, the plant will grow upwards of 45 feet tall.

You can find out about some of the world's most famous coffee beans and regions at the link below. Here you will find information on the different coffee growing regions, organic coffee, fair trade coffee and plenty of coffee beans related information.

Coffee bean plant and coffee information

Most of the coffee plant 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. The plant grows In a band around the equator from approximately 25 degrees north or south, from here comes the vast 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.

The coffee bean plant needs 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 majority of coffee bean plants grown for trade are the robusta, or coffea canephora. These plants provide the majority of beans that go 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. Moderate winds and diffuse light are highly beneficial and are sometimes produced by deliberately growing the coffee bean plant in the shelter and shade.

Once planted, the tree takes about five years to mature to first crop and even then a single plant will only make enough for about two pounds (1 kilogram) of coffee. The harvesting of the coffee plant is highly labor intensive and highly skilled.

Coffee plants 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.

The period of time from when a coffee bean plant blossoms to actually being harvested 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.)



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