Coffee Trees

Coffee is a seed from a fruit from a tree. Like all fruits, there are different species and varieties. The two species we are most familiar with are Arabica and Robusta. We’re going to focus on Arabica, as it’s the most popular species in specialty coffee. Arabica trees tend to look similar across all varieties; a thin trunk with branches, leaves and fruit. If you take a closer look, however, you’ll notice some key differences between different Arabica trees: color in fruit, density in branches, some trees carry fruit in clusters, while some have fruit more spread out across the branch, and some have big differences between leaves.

PRO TIP

Euigenioides, the newly-popular and highly sought after (expensive!) species of coffee, is one of the parent species to Arabica. One of the key differences between Euigenioides and Arabica is the annual yield in which they produce fruit: A Euigenioides tree yields only enough coffee for roughly 10 cups of coffee per year, significantly less coffee compared to Arabica trees.

Coffee farms have a nursery to raise seedlings before planting them on the farm for production. The coffee seeds are planted in a rich soil, the seeds sprout and develop a shoot, and are referred to as ‘soldiers’ at this stage. They look like a shitty art project your child would give you. After this stage the seeds burst open to reveal leaves. From here it only takes 6-12 months before they can be moved from the nursery into production.

Coffee has one major harvest season, sometimes a smaller second that results in lower quality. The matured trees will produce white blossom flowers and the flowers will yield fruit. That fruit, the coffee cherries, do not ripen at the same time and will have to be harvested by hand multiple times for the most consistent and highest quality.