Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted seeds, called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. They are seeds of coffee cherries that grow on trees in over 70 countries, cultivated primarily in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Green unroasted coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Due to its caffeine content, coffee often has a stimulating effect on humans. Today, coffee is the third most popular drink in the world, behind water and tea.
Coffee has played a crucial role in many societies. The energizing effect of the coffee bean plant is thought to have been discovered in the northeast region of Ethiopia, and the cultivation of coffee first expanded in the Arab world.[3] The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen in southern Arabia.[3] From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas.[4] In East Africa and Yemen, it was used in religious ceremonies. As a result, the Ethiopian Church banned its secular consumption, a ban in effect until the reign of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia.[5] It was banned in Ottoman Turkey during the 17th century for political reasons,[6] and was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe.
Coffee berries, which contain the coffee seed, or "bean", are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. The two most commonly grown are the highly regarded Coffea arabica, and the 'robusta' form of the hardier Coffea canephora. The latter is resistant to the devastating coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix). Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways.
An important export commodity, coffee was the top agricultural export for twelve countries in 2004, and it was the world's seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value in 2005. Some controversy is associated with coffee cultivation and its impact on the environment. Many studies have examined the relationship between coffee consumption and certain health conditions; whether the overall effects of coffee are ultimately positive or negative has been widely disputed. The method of brewing coffee has been found to be important to its health effects.
Coffee is usually propagated by seeds. The traditional method of planting coffee is to put 20 seeds in each hole at the beginning of the rainy season; half are eliminated naturally. A more effective method of growing coffee, used in Brazil, is to raise seedlings in nurseries that are then planted outside at six to twelve months. Coffee is often intercropped with food crops, such as corn, beans, or rice during the first few years of cultivation.[16]
Of the two main species grown, arabica coffee (from C. arabica) is generally more highly regarded than robusta coffee (from C. canephora); robusta tends to be bitter and have less flavor but better body than arabica. For these reasons, about three-quarters of coffee cultivated worldwide is C. arabica.[13] Robusta strains also contain about 40–50% more caffeine than arabica.[21] For this reason, it is used as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in many commercial coffee blends. Good quality robusta beans are used in some espresso blends to provide a full-bodied taste, a better foam head (known as crema), and to lower the ingredient cost.[22]
However, Coffea canephora is less susceptible to disease than C. arabica and can be cultivated in lower altitudes and warmer climates where C. arabica will not thrive. The robusta strain was first collected in 1890 from the Lomani, a tributary of the Congo River, and was conveyed from Zaire to Brussels to Java around 1900. From Java, further breeding resulted in the establishment of robusta plantations in many countries.[23] In particular, the spread of the devastating coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix), to which C. arabica is vulnerable, hastened the uptake of the resistant robusta. Coffee leaf rust is found in virtually all countries that produce coffee.[24]
Over 900 species of insect have been recorded as pests of coffee crops worldwide. Of these, over a third are beetles, and over a quarter are bugs. Some 20 species of nematodes, 9 species of mites, several snails and slugs also attack the crop. Birds and rodents sometimes eat coffee berries but their impact is minor compared to invertebrates.[25] In general, arabica is the more sensitive species to invertebrate predation overall. Each part of the coffee plant is assailed by different animals. Nematodes attack the roots, and borer beetles burrow into stems and woody material,[26] the foliage is attacked by over 100 species of larvae (caterpillars) of butterflies and moths.[27]
Mass spraying of insecticides has often proven disastrous, as the predators of the pests are more sensitive than the pests themselves.[28] Instead, integrated pest management has developed, using techniques such as targeted treatment of pest outbreaks, and managing crop environment away from conditions favouring pests. Branches infested with scale are often cut and left on the ground, which promotes scale parasites to not only attack the scale on the fallen branches but in the plant as well.[29]
[edit] Production
| Country | Tonnes[30] | Bags (thousands)[31] |
|---|---|---|
 Brazil | 2,249,010 | 36,070 |
 Vietnam | 961,200 | 16,467 |
 Colombia | 697,377 | 12,504 |
 Indonesia | 676,475 | 7,751 |
 Ethiopia[note 1] | 325,800 | 4,906 |
 India | 288,000 | 4,148 |
 Mexico | 268,565 | 4,150 |
 Guatemala[note 1] | 252,000 | 4,100 |
 Peru | 225,992 | 2,953 |
 Honduras | 217,951 | 3,842 |
 Côte d'Ivoire | 170,849 | 2,150 |
 Uganda | 168,000 | 3,250 |
 Costa Rica | 124,055 | 1,791 |
 Philippines | 97,877 | 431 |
 El Salvador | 95,456 | 1,626 |
 Nicaragua | 90,909 | 1,700 |
 Papua New Guinea[note 1] | 75,400 | 968 |
 Venezuela | 70,311 | 897 |
 Madagascar[note 2] | 62,000 | 604 |
 Thailand | 55,660 | 653 |
| World[note 3] | 7,742,675 | 117,319 |
In 2009 Brazil was the world leader in production of green coffee, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia and Colombia.[32] Arabica coffee beans are cultivated in Latin America, eastern Africa, Arabia, or Asia. Robusta coffee beans are grown in western and central Africa, throughout southeast Asia, and to some extent in Brazil.[13]
Beans from different countries or regions can usually be distinguished by differences in flavor, aroma, body, and acidity.[33] These taste characteristics are dependent not only on the coffee's growing region, but also on genetic subspecies (varietals) and processing.[34] Varietals are generally known by the region in which they are grown, such as Colombian, Java and Kona.
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