From Bean to Cup

From Bean to Cup

The coffee plant is a tree and can reach a height of up to 15 meters. On coffee plantations, however, they are cultivated as shrubs two to three meters high. This makes them more productive and easier to harvest. The fruits look like cherries, each containing a single bean. When fresh, coffee cherries look dull green, depending on their origin and processing:

In nature, there are more than 90 different species of coffee plants. The best known are the varieties Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora, known as Robusta. Coffea Charrieriana is a caffeine-free variety discovered in Cameroon, Central Africa. Coffea Arabica is particularly sensitive; it prefers a constant temperature of 20 degrees. It cannot tolerate frost at all. Coffea Robusta, on the other hand, is much more resistant, tolerating wetness and heat more easily and being more productive, but it has a longer ripening period and cannot tolerate cold at all.

Arabica beans usually have a slender-oval shape and contain about twice as much sugar and fats as Robusta beans. However, they contain only half as much caffeine. Arabica beans offer an enormous variety of flavors and aromas. They are suitable for filter coffees, whereas Robusta beans are not.

Robusta beans have low acidity, can be roasted particularly dark, and have an earthy and woody taste. For a long time, they were notorious as cheap and inferior quality. Today, there are many good Robusta qualities with nutty flavors. Furthermore, they are appreciated for their full body and rich crema. The growing areas are additionally marked on this map:

"r" stands for Robusta and is dark green.
"m" stands for mixed and is light green.
"a" stands for Arabica and is yellow.