2. Coffee Beans
Coffee is a popular beverage made from ground
coffee beans. A coffee seed, commonly called coffee
bean, is a seed of the coffee plant, and is the source
for coffee. Even though the coffee beans are seeds,
they are referred to as "beans" because of their
resemblance to true beans. Just like ordinary cherries,
the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit. It is the
pit inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a
cherry. As coffee is one of the world's most widely
consumed beverages, coffee beans are a major cash
crop and an important export product, counting for
over 50% of some developing nations' foreign
exchange earnings.
3. COFFEE BEANS VARIETIES
There are two main species of coffee beans in the world, Coffee Arabica, and Coffee Robusta. More than three-
quarters of the beans that are sold in the world today are Coffea Arabica, the majority of the remainding bulk are Coffea
Robusta also known as Coffea Canephora.
4. Coffee Robusta
These beans are of a lower grade than Arabica, and are typically grown at lower elevations. They are
easier to grow and maintain, and they are also more disease resistant and produce a higher
yield. Robusta beans have more of an astringent flavor and contain a higher amount of caffeine.
5. Coffee Arabica
These are the higher quality beans and are referred to as
gourmet coffee. They have half the amount of caffeine as
Robusta and have more pleasing flavours and aromatic
properties. Most Arabica bean varieties are name after
their country or region in which they are found, or
originated from.
Other bean species include: benghalensis, Bengal coffee;
Coffea congensis, Congo coffee; Coffea liberica, Liberian
coffee; Coffea stenophylla, Sierra Leonian coffee; Coffea
excelsia, another Liberian coffee; Coffea bonnieri; Coffea
gallienii; and Coffea mogeneti, however these beans are
non-existent in the export market.