Coffee beans

With the consumption of coffee rising throughout the world, and the unexpected advent of non-tropical production in countries such as Australia, this popular beverage has become the second most commonly traded commodity in the world.

Coffee, the drink, is produced from roasted coffee plant seeds. There are two main species of coffee plant, cultivated for general consumption.

Coffea Arabica

Arabica beans are the preferred beans for discerning coffee drinkers. Grown at higher altitudes, they are less resistant to disease and have the most superior taste, aroma and texture. Arabica beans have traditionally been named after their place of origin; the most famous of these being Mocha, from Yemen, and Java, from Indonesia.

Coffea Canephora

Commonly known as Robusta, the Canephora is significantly hardier, with a greater resistance to disease, climate and heat. Robusta has around 40-50% more caffeine than Arabica, but is generally quite bitter with a rather burnt rubber flavour.

Around 4% of all beans of both types grow as Caracoli beans. Each coffee cherry (or fruit) usually grows two beans, however the Caracoli has just one bean within the cherry. Since flavour is intensified in these single beans, Caracoli beans are valued highly.

All coffee beans are roasted before being consumed and the degree of roasting will have a large influence on the taste. The heavier the roasting, the stronger the taste. Flavour is also influenced by the origin of the beans, processing method and growing conditions.

Harvesting

Coffee plants have one crop per year. Traditionally, the coffee cherries are hand picked, making for a very labour-intensive process, however more recent methods involve the use of a machine designed to shake the cherries from the trees.

Once the cherries have been picked they are put through running water to separate the good from the bad and remove dirt. To extract the beans, one of two methods is employed:

Dry processing – Cherries are laid out in the sun to dry for 5-6 weeks, after which the dried casing is hulled, revealing the beans. This process lowers acidity and creates an earthier and fruitier flavoured bean.

Wet processing – The most widely used method. Green, ripe red and overripe black cherries are soaked in water.The black cherries float and are skimmed off. The red and green cherries are pushed into a mesh screen. The red cherries have softened in the water and are forced through the screen, the beans removed and dried.

Economics of coffee

Coffee is one of the worlds most important commodities. Millions of people worldwide are involved in the harvesting and production of coffee products; in Brazil alone, almost one third of the world's coffee is grown, an industry employing a large proportion of the population.

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks with hundreds of billions of cups consumed each year and millions of small producers and resellers relying on coffee for a living.

Coffee is also an important commodity on the world financial markets, being second only to petroleum in terms of monetary value traded worldwide. All over the world, people rely on the ongoing need of coffee to survive