Arabian coffee

Coffea arabica

Coffee beans aren’t actually beans at all, but the seeds of the coffee cherry.

The shrub, which can grow up to seven metres tall, produces white, sweet-smelling flowers. The dark red drupes, known as coffee cherries, have a tough skin, juicy flesh and two seeds (coffee beans).

Coffee is produced solely from the seeds of ripe fruits. These are dried after being picked. The fruit skin and silver skin are removed from the green beans by mechanical hulling and polishing. These beans have an almost indefinite shelf life and are known as green coffee.

As roasted coffee quickly loses its aroma, the beans are only roasted in the country of consumption. Arabica coffee thrives in cooler high-altitude regions, whilst Robusta coffee grows in hot, humid lowlands.

Distribution

Africa and Asia; the three African species (Arabica 74 per cent, Robusta 25 per cent, Liberica 1 per cent) have wide distribution across multiple regions; the majority of global production now comes from South and Central America.