Coffee Tree Complex and Fascinating

This evening I thought it would be worthwhile to talk about the coffee tree itself. The coffee tree is actually a shrub with a straight trunk, and can survive from 50 to 70 years. The first flowers appear during the third year, but coffee production is only really profitable from the fifth year onwards. Eighteenth century botanists first classified the coffee tree as a member of the Rubiaceous family, of which there are more than 4,000 species of plants. There are actually around 60 different species of coffee tree, but two alone dominate the coffee trade. The most popular is Coffea Arabica (Arabica), which represents about 75 per cent of coffee production; the second variety is Coffea Canephora, or Robusta, which take up the remaining 25 per cent of production. Robusta coffee is generally regarded as the inferior of the two varieties; its taste is generally harsher to the palate than is arabica. Robusta coffee trees are also a higher yield plant than is arabica and are more resistant to disease. The beans gathered from this plant are generally used in instant coffees and the more commercial blends.

Arabica coffee trees on the other hand grow best at higher altitudes than is the case for robusta trees. They have a much more refined flavour and contain about one per cent caffeine by weight, as compared to robusta's two per cent. Arabica beans also yield only one to one and a half pounds of green coffee per year, compared to robusta's two to three pounds.

The coffee bean's flowers are white with five or six petals. The pistil that emerges from the flower's cupule (the main body of the flower) is tipped with delicate stigmas, the shape and scent of which resemble that of jasmine. It is for this reason that the coffee tree was once referred to as "Arabian Jasmine" in the 17th century.

We will discuss the coffee tree in more detail in a later blog.