Coffee beans are the starting point for brewing a good cup of coffee, and understanding their origins and background is essential for choosing the right raw materials. This article systematically covers the botanical characteristics of coffee, the structure of its fruit, the main cultivated varieties and their flavor differences, while also explaining in detail how dry and wet processing methods affect quality. It also introduces the global production and trade landscape and import quality standards. The article specifically mentions recommendations from the Front Street brand to help coffee enthusiasts make informed choices in their daily purchases.

1. Overview: Coffee belongs to the genus Coffea in the family Rubiaceae and is a perennial evergreen shrub or small tree. It first appeared in the tropical regions of Africa, and has been cultivated artificially for over two thousand years. As early as 525 BC, Arabs had already begun cultivating coffee and had the habit of roasting and eating coffee beans. After the 15th century, coffee cultivation gradually expanded; by the 18th century, it had been widely introduced to tropical and subtropical regions across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and coffee thus rose to become the number one of the world's three major beverage crops.

2. Uses: Coffee beans are the key raw material for making beverages, and the coffee brewed from them is widely consumed around the world and deeply favored by people in many countries. In addition, coffee beans also have applications in the pharmaceutical field, where caffeine can be extracted as an ingredient in anesthetics, diuretics, stimulants, and cardiotonics.

3. Processing:

(1) Dry method: This method is simple to carry out, usually using sun-drying or electric oven drying. After drying is complete, the beans are hulled to remove the fruit skin and parchment, and then impurities are sifted out to obtain the commercial coffee beans sold on the market.

(2) Wet method: Most growing regions choose this method, and the resulting coffee is of better quality. The specific process is:

Fresh cherries → washing in washing tank → pulping in pulper → fermentation in fermentation tank → washing off mucilage in washing tank → sun-drying (or machine-drying) → hulling in huller to remove parchment → commercial coffee beans.

Fermentation time varies depending on the variety and temperature conditions. Arabica typically requires 1–1.5 days, while Robusta requires 1.5–2 days. If fermentation is excessive, it produces a sour taste; if fermentation is insufficient, the mucilage is not completely removed, making the beans harder to dry and affecting their color as well.

4. Production and trade: Coffee ranks first among the world's three major beverage crops in terms of production, consumption, and output value. Producing regions are mainly distributed in South America, Central America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Most of these major producing countries have export operations, with Central and South America exporting the largest volumes. The United States is the world's largest coffee importer, followed by Japan, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and others.

Products involved in the world coffee trade include green coffee beans, roasted coffee beans, ground coffee, and instant coffee, with green coffee beans occupying the dominant position.

China began introducing coffee cultivation in Taiwan in 1884. Today, coffee is grown in Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Yunnan, and other places, with an annual output of about 2,600 tons. Domestic consumption relies mainly on imports, with annual imports of about 12,000 tons of coffee beans and about 700–800 tons of coffee products, primarily from Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and other countries. At the same time, China also exports a small amount of coffee, with annual exports of about 2,000 tons.

5. Morphology and structure of the fruit and seed: The coffee fruit is a berry, oval in shape, 9–14 mm in length, and turns red or purplish-red when ripe. Each fruit usually contains two seeds, which are flat and round with a longitudinal groove on the surface. The fruit consists of the exocarp, mesocarp, endocarp (parchment), seed coat, and kernel (endosperm). The color and thickness of the seed coat are among the important bases for distinguishing different varieties. The kernel after removal of the seed coat is the commercial coffee bean traded on the market.

6. Main cultivated varieties:

(1) Arabica, also known as the small-bean variety. Native to Ethiopia, it is an evergreen small shrub with relatively small kernels, thicker fruit skin, and sweet-tasting pulp. The finished product has a mellow aroma and lower caffeine content, so it is also called mild coffee. It is the world's most important cultivated variety, with cultivated area and output accounting for more than 80% and more than 82% of the world's total coffee area and total production, respectively. Its main producing areas are Brazil and Colombia.

(2) Robusta, also called Coffea canephora, namely the medium-bean variety. Native to the tropical rainforests of Congo in Africa, it is an evergreen small tree. The fruit is flat-round or oval, purple when ripe, and the seed coat is relatively thin and clings tightly to the kernel, making it difficult to peel off. When consumed, it has a strong taste, higher caffeine content, and stronger stimulation. Its cultivated area is second only to Arabica, with main producing regions in Southeast Asia, India, and Africa.

(3) Liberica, namely the large-bean variety. Native to Liberia in Africa, it is an evergreen tree with relatively large, oblong fruit. The seed coat clings tightly to the kernel and turns vermilion when ripe. It has a strong drinking flavor, medium caffeine content, and strong stimulation, but relatively poorer quality. Its cultivated area is small, distributed in Liberia, Malaysia, India, and Indonesia.

(4) Excelsa. Native to the Chari River basin in Africa, its fruit is small, and its product has a strong aroma with a slight bitterness. It is cultivated only in very small quantities.

In the world coffee market, Robusta and Arabica occupy a dominant position, with Arabica having the greater advantage.

7. Quality specifications: Quality specifications in import coffee bean contracts: see Table 1–6–1.

Table 1–6–1 Quality standards in import coffee bean contracts

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.