Coffee production

Coffee production, cultivation of coffee plants, usually done in large commercial operations. The two major species of coffee plants (Coffea arabica and C. canephora; family Rubiaceae) are tropical evergreen shrubs or small trees of African origin. They are grown for the seeds, or beans, which are roasted, ground, and sold for brewing coffee. This article treats the cultivation of coffee plants and the harvesting and processing of the beans. For information on the beverage, see coffee. See also coffee roasting; history of coffee; and Coffea.

The Arabica species of coffee (C. arabica) is cultivated mostly in Latin America, while the Robusta variety of C. canephora predominates in Africa. Arabica is considered a milder, more flavorful and aromatic brew than Robusta, though the latter is a hardier plant and is thus cheaper to produce. It has twice the caffeine content of Arabica and is typically the bean of choice for inexpensive commercial coffee brands. Both coffee species are also grown in India, Indonesia, and other Asian countries. There are many varieties, forms, and types of each. The effects of environment and cultivation further increase this diversity.

Cultivation

The Coffee Belt—the coffee-growing region bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn—has the climatic conditions to support the cultivation of the vast majority of the world’s coffee plants. Climatic factors most important for coffee growth are temperature and rainfall. No variety can withstand a temperature in the vicinity of 0 °C (32 °F). Temperatures between 23 and 28 °C (73 and 82 °F) are the most favorable. Rainfall of 1,500 to 2,000 mm (60 to 80 inches) per year is required along with a dry period of two to three months for the Arabica. Irrigation is required where annual rainfall is less than 1 meter (40 inches). The Arabica species is more delicate and vulnerable to pests than Robusta and requires a cool subtropical climate; it must grow at higher elevations of 600–2,000 meters (2,000–6,500 feet) and requires a lot of moisture and has fairly specific shade requirements. The Robusta variety, as its name suggests, is hardier and can grow at lower altitudes—from sea level to 600 meters.

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Plantations are established in cleared forestland for sun-grown coffee or modified forests for shade-grown coffee. The young coffee plants are spaced in rows so that the density varies between 1,200 and 1,800 plants per hectare (500 and 750 plants per acre). Seedlings or cuttings raised in nurseries are carefully planted at the beginning of the rainy season; until they start producing fruit three to four years later, their care is limited largely to the trimming required to give them a strong, balanced framework and to stimulate fruiting.

Shade-grown and sun-grown coffee

Coffee has traditionally been cultivated in the shade of other trees, which mimics the natural growing conditions of the plants in a forest understory. Some shade-grown coffee is grown on plantations that have been planted with shade trees, which allows farmers to space the plants as desired. On such farms, fruit and timber trees are often utilized, which allows farmers to further supplement their income. Other growers modify existing forested land and may or may not plant additional shade trees. Both methods can be considered a form of permaculture (“permanent agriculture”) or agroforestry, and a diversity of shade-giving trees is usually encouraged to promote ecological interactions within the system. Some of these interactions directly benefit coffee production, such as improved nutrient cycling and the provision of habitat for pest-eating birds and useful pollinators, while others are more broadly beneficial, such as improved carbon sequestration and water filtration, decreased soil erosion, and the preservation of biodiversity. Shade-grown coffee is considered more labor-intensive than sun-grown coffee and produces lower yields. However, it produces a superior flavor in the beans and is frequently sold at higher prices as a specialty coffee. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries there was renewed interest in shade-grown coffee as a sustainable farming method, and most organic coffee was shade-grown. In 2024 about 24 percent of global coffee production was considered shade-grown.

With the Green Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s, the traditional shade-grown method lost much of its popularity because better results can be obtained without shade or with very light shade if other practices, such as trimming, weeding, and fertilization, are followed. Yields as high as 2,300 to 3,400 kg per hectare (2,000 to 3,000 pounds per acre) can be grown, compared with 500 to 1,000 kg per hectare (450 to 900 pounds per acre) by traditional methods. To achieve such productivity, many coffee plantations were converted to this “sun-grown” methodology, causing the deforestation of large areas of Central America and other coffee-growing regions. Grown as monocultures, sun-grown coffee plants are more vulnerable to disease and thus require greater pesticide inputs than shade-grown coffee. Robusta coffee is better adapted as a sun-grown coffee plant than Arabica.

Diseases

Among the diseases of the coffee plant are leaf rust, caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, which does considerable damage in the plantations of Arabica, and coffee berry disease, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum coffeanum, which also attacks the Arabica. Robusta appears to be resistant, or only slightly susceptible, to these scourges. Among the numerous parasites that attack the coffee plant is the berry borer (Stephanoderes hamjei), which damages the seeds of both Arabica and Robusta.

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Harvesting and processing

The time between blooming and maturing of the fruit varies appreciably with the variety and the climate; for Arabica it is about seven months and for Robusta about nine months. The ripened fruits of the coffee plant are known as coffee cherries, and each cherry generally contains two coffee seeds (“beans”) positioned flat against one another. About 5 percent of cherries contain only one seed; called peaberries, those single seeds are smaller and denser and produce, in the opinion of some, a sweeter, more flavorful coffee. The fruit is gathered by hand when it is fully ripe and red-purple in colour.

Hulling

The cherries are processed by disengaging the coffee seeds from their coverings and from the pulp and by drying the seeds from an original moisture content of 65–70 percent water by weight to 12–13 percent; all beans must be removed from their fruit and dried before roasting. Three techniques are used for processing the coffee: the dry, or “natural,” process, the wet (and washed) process, and a hybrid process called the semi-washed, or “pulped natural,” method. The coffee resulting from these processes is called green coffee, which is then ready for roasting.

The dry process

The oldest and simplest method of processing coffee, requiring little machinery, is practiced in dry climates such as those of Brazil and Ethiopia. After the fruits have been sorted (often by hand) and cleaned (via running water or washing canals or in large tanks), they are placed in the sun to dry on concrete, brick patios, or raised mats. The cherries are frequently raked or turned by hand to shift them onto the driest surface and to prevent fermentation and mold. The drying process may take several days or up to four weeks. The drying process is critical: overdried coffee will break, forming defective beans, and coffee too moist can deteriorate quickly if attacked by fungi and bacteria. When the fruits have been dried to a water content of about 12–13 percent, they are mechanically hulled to free the seeds from their coverings. In rainy regions where humidity and rains during harvest time are common, the dry process is obviously not practical.

The wet process

The wet process requires more equipment than the dry method but produces beans that are better preserved and more homogeneous and have fewer defects. Most Arabica coffees are produced by the wet method, and they generally command a higher price.

In the first step of the wet process, the skin and the pulp of the fresh fruit are removed by a pulping machine, which consists of a rotating drum or disk that presses the fruit against a sharp-edged or slotted plate, disengaging the pulp from the seed. Pulp still clings to the coffee seed, however, as a thin mucilaginous layer. That layer is eliminated by fermentation, actually a form of digestion in which naturally occurring pectic enzymes decompose the pulp while the wetted seeds are held in tanks for one to three days. Washing clears all remaining traces of pulp from the coffee seeds, which are then dried either by exposure to sunlight on concrete terraces or by passing through hot-air driers. The dry skin around the seed, called the parchment, is then mechanically removed, sometimes with polishing.

The “pulped natural” process

A third method, called pulped natural, is a hybrid of dry and wet processing. Pulps are removed mechanically, but the beans are dried without any intermediate fermentation, and the mucilage is not removed until after drying. Beans thus treated have a good balance of sweet and acidic notes with robust body.

Grading

The practice of grading and classifying coffee gives sellers and buyers a guarantee concerning the origin, nature, and quality of the product to aid in negotiations. Each coffee-producing country has a certain number of defined types and grades—based on characteristics such as growing altitude and region, botanical variety, method of processing, roast appearance, and bean size, density, and defects—but there is no universal grading and classification system.

Fair Trade coffee, part of the larger Fair Trade movement, arose to ensure that coffee is harvested and processed without child labor and dangerous herbicides and pesticides and that growers and exporters, particularly in the poorer regions of the coffee-growing world, are paid a fair price. How well such Fair Trade standards are enforced is a matter of controversy.