Excellent Coffee

Coffee itself has a delicious and dark history, and it was rumored to have been discovered in Ethiopia. The coffee bean began being cultivated in 850 A.D. in Ethiopia, and this soon spread to Arabia. Coffee was actually first mentioned in Arabic writings in 900 A.D. Interestingly enough, the word “coffee” was derived from the Arabic word “qahwah”. The coffee plant was first taken to America in 1723, and it began to thrive in South America. Currently, South America produces over 50% of the coffee that is exported worldwide.

The myth behind the origin of the coffee bean is that it was discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder. The story goes that this goat herder observed that his goats became energetic and hyperactive after eating coffee berries that were growing wild. This led the Ethiopian goat herder to begin to cultivate and eat these berries for energy. In that time in Ethiopia, the berries were rolled up with fat into balls to be eaten to provide energy for battle.

Coffee thrives along the equator between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. It is important for coffee trees to have a temperate and humid climate with heavy rainfall to flourish and develop deep and delicious flavors. There are two different coffee beans currently being cultivated, which are Arabica and Robusta. Arabica beans are often seen as a more premium and gourmet variety, while Robusta are known as lesser quality beans. Robusta beans are often used as cheap fillers within coffee blends, and they contain almost twice as much caffeine as Arabica beans.

When a coffee tree matures, it can grow anywhere from 15 to 30 feet tall. As the tree grows, it will produce less branches and begin to bear fruit and leaves. It actually takes a coffee tree up to five years to mature and begin to bear fruit from the time that it has been planted. On a coffee plantation, the coffee trees are planted in rows that are several feet apart. Many farmers will also integrate fruit trees in with the coffee trees, or even plant the coffee trees on the side of a hill.

Coffee trees need a very specific environment to thrive in. Some of these conditions include a minimum of 70 inches of rainfall per year, a warm and temperate climate, and preferably a higher altitude.

Most commonly, coffee that is grown in a higher altitude is considered of a superior caliber because of the generous cloud cover found over the coffee trees in elevated areas. When a coffee tree is grown under cloud cover, it can grow more slowly. While this may seem like a bad thing, it actually allows the coffee tree the time to develop deeper flavors within the beans, offering a more rare and exceptional taste. This is specifically why coffees like Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and Hawaiian Kona Coffee are more expensive because of the conditions that they are grown in and the unique flavors that they have to offer within their brew.