Coffee from the heart
Coffee plants, from which coffee beans are derived, range from shrubs to small trees and have two main components – the red fruit and the seed (coffee bean) contained within this outer cover.
Although the beverage industry is becoming increasingly resourceful in its use of the fruit element of the coffee plant, for example as a sweetener or for its health benefits, this was previously a wasted ingredient in the coffee harvesting process.
Although referred to as coffee beans, these are actually the seeds of the coffee plant and have been so called due to their bean-shaped appearance. The heart of each coffee berry generally contains two beans, although it is not uncommon for a small percentage of a crop to only contain a single bean, known as a peaberry.
Cultivation of the coffee bean originated in Ethiopia and then expanded to Arabia where it was first documented. Plants were eventually smuggled to the Netherlands with Americans first introduced to the coffee plant in 1723 and South America now accounting for over 50% of global coffee production.
There are now a range of coffee plant species, including Coffee benghalensis, Coffee arabica, Coffee canephora, Coffee bonnieri, Coffee excelsa, Coffee mogeneti, Coffee congensis, Coffee gallienii, Coffee liberica and Coffee stenophylla, all resulting in coffee with widely differing characteristics.
In terms of coffee bean types, Coffea Arabica (referred to as Arabica) and Coffea Canephora (Robusta) are the two main groups and together constitute over 90% of worldwide coffee bean sales. Arabica beans are said to produce higher quality coffee whilst the Robusta variant is favoured for its heartiness.