Coffee is a term for a tree of genus Coffea, it seeds, and beverage prepared from those seeds. Coffee is widely cultivated in the tropical countries in plantations. Coffee is one of the world’s major commodities.

When grown in the tropics, coffee is a vigorous bush or small tree easily growing to a height of 10–12 feet. It is capable of withstanding severe pruning. It is not able to grow where there is a winter frost. Coffee bushes grow best at high altitudes. To produce the maximum ripe coffee berries, approximately 15,000Lbs per acre, the plants need substantial amounts of water and fertilizer.

There are approximately 70 different species of Coffea. However, several species of Coffea that may be grown for coffee. Coffea arabica is considered to have the best quality. The other species (primarily Coffea robusta) are grown on land unsuitable for Coffea arabica. The tree produces red or purple fruits, which contain two seeds, popularly called the "coffee beans" or "coffee berries" though coffee is not a true bean.

The coffee tree will grow fruits after 3–5 years, for about 50–60 years. Coffee crops need lots of rains to bloom. Coffee buds grow in the summer. The flowers of the coffee are white and have a jasmine smell. To get a fruitful result from coffee trees, growers have to prune coffee trees regularly. The fruit takes about nine months to ripen.

Coffee berries are approximately from ½ to ¾ in long. Hand picking is a preferable method to harvest coffee crops simply because, at any given time, a coffee tree can have a combination of flowers, unripe, ripe berries. Shaken coffee trees to harvest coffee crops are also being used in some sizable coffee plantations. With a better care and good weather conditions, coffee growers can annually harvest about 16 pounds of cherries per coffee tree.

There are approximately 15 billion coffee trees are growing on 40,000 square mile of land worldwide.

Processing Coffee:

Processing coffee, in short, is a method to remove the pulp from the coffee bean.

Coffee beans are processed in two methods:

The Dry Method:

Traditionally, coffee beans are processed by the Dry Method. Coffee berries are spread on a large surface and the sun energy is used to reduce the moisture in the coffee beans for the course from 7 to 10 days. Coffee beans must be stirred or raked regularly to prevent fermentation. After that, the shell will become brittle, dark and the coffee bean is separated from the pulp.

The Wet Method:

To save time, pulping machines have been invented to process coffee with the Wet Method. Skins and pulps of berries are washed away from coffee beans. After that, coffee beans are store in fermentation tanks. The parchment will naturally separate from the coffee bean during the fermentation process. The fermentation takes up from 24 to 48 hours, depend upon the ambient temperature.

Next, coffee beans need to be dried out by the sun energy to reduce the moisture before roasting.

Roasting Coffee:

Coffee beans, then, are needed to be roasted. During roasting, coffee beans will lose the moisture, swell, caramelize, darken in color and develop the coffee aroma.

Roasting timing and temperature are varied depend upon the amount and the sizes of coffee beans. In general, if coffee beans are spread in a single layer and stirred frequently, with the temperature sets at 450-480 oF, and the average size of coffee beans is ½ in, the roasting time will take from 15 minutes to half an hour. When the time is reached, the cooling process will take place at once to bring down the residual heat inside coffee beans. Coffee beans then will be weighed, sacked, and put into storage.

Roasting is one of the important arts to produce coffee flavors.

Grinding Coffee:

Grinding coffee beans is a process that turns roasted coffee beans into ground coffee. The finer coffee powder will produce the stronger coffee flavor. The following chart shows the general idea of coffee flavors vs. grinding settings.

For the burr grinders, there are two types being used. They are wheel burr and conical burr. The wheel burr crushes coffee beans between a moving wheel and a flat surface. Therefore, the ground size of the coffee is easily regulated. The conical burr grinder crushes coffee beans between a moving surface and a non-moving surface. The conical burr grinder will be slower but quieter. In addition, conical burr grinders will produce less heat than other grinders. As a result, the coffee aroma will be maintained.
After grinding, coffee will be packed in air tight containers at once to slow down the oxidation process that naturally takes place in the open air and makes ground coffee go stale quickly.
Grinding coffee beans just prior to brewing will always produce a better flavor coffee.

Brewing Coffee:

Everyone has different preference to brew coffee. Individual preferences will influence the brewing methods. The only aspect should be mentioned here is over brewing will destroy the taste.

Drinking Coffee:

Coffee is a stimulant drink. Enjoy it.
When you enjoy a good cup of coffee, your stress may be reduced. Recent study also shows that drinking coffee may help to protect against liver cancer.