2. Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from
roasted coffee beans, the seeds of berries
from certain Coffea species.
The genus Coffea is native to tropical Africa
(specifically having its origin in Ethiopia and
Sudan) and Madagascar, the Comoros,
Mauritius, and Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
3. Coffee plants are now cultivated in over 70 countries,
primarily in the equatorial regions of the Americas, Southeast
Asia, Indian subcontinent, and Africa.
The two most commonly grown are C. arabica and C. robusta.
Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried.
Dried coffee seeds (referred to as "beans") are roasted to
varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor.
Roasted beans are ground and then brewed with near-
boiling water to produce the beverage known as coffee.
4. Coffee is darkly colored, bitter, slightly acidic and has a stimulating effect in humans,
primarily due to its caffeine content.
It is one of the most popular drinks in the world, and it can be prepared and presented
in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, café latte).
It is usually served hot, although iced coffee is a popular alternative.
Clinical studies indicate that moderate coffee consumption is benign or mildly
beneficial in healthy adults, with continuing research on whether long-term
consumption lowers the risk of some diseases, although those long-term studies are
of generally poor quality.
5. As of 2016, Brazil was the leading grower of coffee beans, producing one-third of the
world total.
Coffee is a major export commodity, being the top legal agricultural export for
numerous countries not in citation given It is one of the most valuable commodities
exported by developing countries.
Green, unroasted coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the
world.
Some controversy has been associated with coffee cultivation and the way developed
countries trade with developing nations, as well as the impact on the environment
with regards to the clearing of land for coffee-growing and water use.
Consequently, the markets for fair trade and organic coffee are expanding, notably in
the USA.
6. Legendary accounts
According to legend, ancestors of today's
Oromo people in a region of Kaffa in Ethiopia
were believed to have been the first to
recognize the energizing effect of the coffee
plant.
However, there is no direct evidence that has
been found earlier than the 15th century
indicating where in Africa coffee first grew or
who among the native populations might have
used it as a stimulant.
The story of Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian
goatherd who discovered coffee when he
noticed how excited his goats became after
eating the beans from a coffee plant, did not
appear in writing until 1671 and is probably
apocryphal.
7. Biology
Coffea arabica is predominantly self-pollinating,
and as a result, the seedlings are generally uniform
and vary little from their parents.
In contrast, Coffea canephora, and C. liberica are
self-incompatible and require outcrossing.
This means that useful forms and hybrids must be
propagated vegetatively.
Cuttings, grafting, and budding are the usual
methods of vegetative propagation.
On the other hand, there is great scope for
experimentation in search of potential new strains.
8. Cultivation
The traditional method of planting coffee is to place 20 seeds in each hole at the
beginning of the rainy season.
This method loses about 50% of the seeds' potential, as about half fail to sprout.
A more effective process of growing coffee, used in Brazil, is to raise seedlings in
nurseries that are then planted outside at six to twelve months.
Coffee is often intercropped with food crops, such as corn, beans, or rice during
the first few years of cultivation as farmers become familiar with its
requirements.
Coffee plants grow within a defined area between the tropics of Cancer and
Capricorn, termed the bean belt or coffee belt.
9. Ecological effects
A cluster of bushes with drooping
leaves and long chains of flowers
sits in a clearing, surrounded by
forest.
A flowering Coffea arabica tree in a
Brazilian plantation.
Originally, coffee farming was done
in the shade of trees that provided a
habitat for many animals and
insects.[68] Remnant forest trees
were used for this purpose, but many
species have been planted as well.
These include leguminous trees of
the genera Acacia, Albizia, Cassia,
Erythrina, Gliricidia, Inga, and
Leucaena, as well as the nitrogen-
fixing non-legume sheoaks of the
genus Casuarina, and the silky oak
Grevillea robusta.
