Little Facts on Coffee Beans

Coffee bean is the seed of a shrub called cherry coffee. This tree measures between 3.2 to 6 meters. The tree begins to bear fruit between 3.1 and 5.2 years. Its production is around 2.2 kilos per coffee tree over a period that can span 30 to 50 years.
When is coffee collected?
Coffee is collected in the second half of the year, when the coffee cherry has reached its maturity and the color begins to change from green to red.
How do you collect the coffee cherry?
The cherry is handpicked, as in Colombia and throughout Central America. This procedure is more expensive and tedious, but the harvested grain reaches a higher quality, since only the cherries that are ripe are collected.
Trivia Question: How many coffee cherries are needed to produce 1 kilo of coffee bean?
Answer: The coffee cherry has two coffee beans, which is to say that we need 1000 cherry for each kilo of coffee.
Coffee Production: Major Coffee Producing Areas
The tree is grown in subtropical climates and in areas between 600 and 1700 meters above sea level. The coffee producing countries are in the continents of Africa, Middle East and South America, always about 25 ° from the line of Equator.
Coffee is the second most exported product in the world after oil. The largest producer is Brazil, followed by Colombia, but the latter country is first in the production of Arabica coffee.
Classification of coffee for sale from the commercial point of view:
� Colombian soft: They represent 19.5% of the total trade of coffee. They are produced in Colombia, Kenya and Tanzania.
� Other Soft: assumes 22% of coffee for sale. Producing areas are: Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador. Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Rwanda, India, Australia.
� Brazilian and other Arabs: Represent 40% of coffee wholesale world trade. Brazil leads this group, followed by Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay and Ethiopia.
� Robusta: Account for 24% of the total coffee wholesale market. They are produced in Indonesia, Trinidad Tobago, Ghana, Guinea. Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Angola, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zaire.
The canephora robusta coffee was discovered in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) in the late nineteenth century. It grew wild in the forests of tropical Africa. Today it is grown mainly in Africa but is also cultured in India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Brazil and the Philippines. The robusta variety is is best grown in plains and likes the humid tropical climate.

Gourmet roasted beans from the Coffee Beans Shop are hand-selected and roasted in-house at the Chillin Cafe on Queensland�s Gold Coast.
Buy coffee online from http://www.CoffeeBeansShop.com.au

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Posted in: coffee

Little Facts on Coffee Beans

Coffee bean is the seed of a shrub called cherry coffee. This tree measures between 3.2 to 6 meters. The tree begins to bear fruit between 3.1 and 5.2 years. Its production is around 2.2 kilos per coffee tree over a period that can span 30 to 50 years.
When is coffee collected?
Coffee is collected in the second half of the year, when the coffee cherry has reached its maturity and the color begins to change from green to red.
How do you collect the coffee cherry?
The cherry is handpicked, as in Colombia and throughout Central America. This procedure is more expensive and tedious, but the harvested grain reaches a higher quality, since only the cherries that are ripe are collected.
Trivia Question: How many coffee cherries are needed to produce 1 kilo of coffee bean?
Answer: The coffee cherry has two coffee beans, which is to say that we need 1000 cherry for each kilo of coffee.
Coffee Production: Major Coffee Producing Areas
The tree is grown in subtropical climates and in areas between 600 and 1700 meters above sea level. The coffee producing countries are in the continents of Africa, Middle East and South America, always about 25 ° from the line of Equator.
Coffee is the second most exported product in the world after oil. The largest producer is Brazil, followed by Colombia, but the latter country is first in the production of Arabica coffee.
Classification of coffee for sale from the commercial point of view:
� Colombian soft: They represent 19.5% of the total trade of coffee. They are produced in Colombia, Kenya and Tanzania.
� Other Soft: assumes 22% of coffee for sale. Producing areas are: Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador. Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Rwanda, India, Australia.
� Brazilian and other Arabs: Represent 40% of coffee wholesale world trade. Brazil leads this group, followed by Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay and Ethiopia.
� Robusta: Account for 24% of the total coffee wholesale market. They are produced in Indonesia, Trinidad Tobago, Ghana, Guinea. Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Angola, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zaire.
The canephora robusta coffee was discovered in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) in the late nineteenth century. It grew wild in the forests of tropical Africa. Today it is grown mainly in Africa but is also cultured in India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Brazil and the Philippines. The robusta variety is is best grown in plains and likes the humid tropical climate.

Gourmet roasted beans from the Coffee Beans Shop are hand-selected and roasted in-house at the Chillin Cafe on Queensland�s Gold Coast.
Buy coffee online from http://www.CoffeeBeansShop.com.au

Read more »

Posted in: coffee

Coffee - The origin of the species

Coffee, along with tea and soft drinks is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. The popularity and liking for coffee as a beverage can be gauged by the fact that its consumption is approximately one third of the volume of water consumed in the United States and Europe. The coffee that we drink is actually prepared from seeds, normally referred to as beans, of the coffee plant.
Coffee beans usually grow in pairs in the coffee cherry. In some rare cases, a single bean can also be found growing in the plant. Such single beans are known as pea-berry or carcoli beans. Pea-berry has a more prominent flavor than other Arabica beans are high on demand and are more expensive.
Species and Origins:
The Genus, Coffea, to which the coffee plant belongs, contains about 25 species out of which the most prominent are:
- The older species Coffea Arabica, was called the Kaffa, originated in Ethiopia.
- The newer species, Coffea canephora (Robusta), probably originated in Uganda.
- Coffea liberica, which is indigenous to Liberia
- Coffea esliaca, that is believed to be indigenous to Sudan
Whereas Coffea Robusta is a shrub type plant, Coffea Arabica grows more like a tree. Some varieties of the coffee plant grow up to 30 feet but for easy picking of the coffee berry they are seldom allowed to grow beyond 15 feet. The coffee plant grows best under the shade of natural vegetation classified as Tropical Semi-deciduous Forest and in warm humid isothermal climate with annual precipitation of 1800-2000 mm and a mean annual temperature of 21-21.9°C
The best soils for coffee plants are deep sandy loam soils with coarse makeup perspective, having good aeration, moderate infiltration, and pH from 5.0 to 6.0. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous are the most important elements though physical conditions can limit growth to a great extent.
Initially, Arabica coffees were named after the ports that they were exported from - for example, Java, from Indonesia and Mocha, from Yemen. Arabica is considered by many to be better in taste than Robusta, but the species is more susceptible to disease and therefore not as profitable to grow.
The flavor of the Arabica beans depends upon the region they are grown in. Arabica beans are now grown in three main regions - Latin America, East Africa/Arabia and Asia/Pacific, and have distinctive characteristics of flavor, aroma, body, and acidity levels. Apart from the region, processing, genetic subspecies or varieties of beans also have a great impact on the coffee flavor and taste. For example, washed or wet processed beans tend to be more acidic in taste. Some regions even produce coffee beans that have a citrus-like or earthy flavor and aroma which can be best described as berry-like or flowery.
Robusta coffees are cultivated in environments where Arabica cannot blossom and have approximately 45% more caffeine than Arabica coffees. Robusta has little taste and tends to be bitter and has a typical "burnt rubber" and "wet cardboard" aroma and flavor. Robusta beans are cost effective but their peculiar taste is not liked by a many. To make Robusta beans more palatable and suitable for coffee blends the undesirable flavors are removed through a steaming process. Some espresso blends use good quality Robusta to decrease costs and get a better "crema" or foamy head.
Modern coffee, however, is more origin specific, and is known by country, region, varietals and even the estate it is grown and processed in.
Some coffees are made from particular varietals. Varietal, a botanical term that refers to a taxonomic category rank below species and are not related to origin are more specific than Arabica and Robusta. Coffees made of beans from single varietals are generally referred as such and in certain cases. The name of the region is added for distinctive branding. Rwanda Blue Bourbon is one such example of a coffee made from single varietals and made in Rwanda.
Brazil remains the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee. In recent years, however, there has been a flood of Robusta beans from Vietnam. The preference of the large industrial houses, multinational roasters and instant coffee producers, for the Robusta variety, due to its cheaper cost, was instrumental in the huge influx, precipitating a crisis of sorts in the prices of coffee the world over.
Coffee City http://www.coffeecity.org offers extensive articles and resources on coffee, espresso, coffee beans, coffee making, etc.

Coffee City http://www.coffeecity.org offers extensive articles and resources on coffee, espresso, coffee beans, coffee making, etc.

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Posted in: coffee