Coffee is produced around the globe, so it can be complex to answer where it comes from. In the broadest sense, mostly it is produced in a belt around the equator.
Coffee trees require an exceptional climate to grow and produce coffee berries.
- They grow best at a height between 500 and 2000 meters above sea level.
- They should preferably have a constant temperature of 14 to 25 degrees.
- More than 30 cm of rain should fall during the year. Most of the rain should fall at the beginning of the season.
- Soil, climate, and altitude affect the taste of the beans.
- This is why coffee tastes so different, depending on the country and region it is produced.
If all the coffee plants were collected, they would fill an area the size of Portugal.
Climate change is of great importance to coffee production.
Some of the places where coffee is grown today will no longer be favorable in the future.
For the same reason, it is expected that the coffee price will continue to rise towards 2050.
Honduras, Vietnam, Nicaragua, and Guatemala are expected to be hit the hardest.
When problems are genuine now, Mexico may have been taken off the coffee card within a few years.
Conversely, new areas such as the Andes, New Guinea, and eastern Africa may become new areas.
Indonesia may become one of the existing coffee countries that will experience increased production due to climate change.
The coffee bushes / trees grow best around the equator
The area bounded by the tropics is known as the Bean Belt.
Where it is grown is very important to its flavor. However, it also plays into how the bean is processed after it has been harvested.
There are two methods to get the bean out of its berry.
The cheapest and fastest called the dry method, here the harvested berries spread out and dry until they crack.
The second is called the wet method, and here come the harvested berries in large vessels with water.
They then suck liquid until they almost dissolve.
This takes longer and requires more work, reflected in the kilogram price of that kind of coffee.
What kind of plant does coffee come from?
Coffee beans originate as a seed inside a red berry.
Unless you have lived in a coffee-producing country, you may not know what the coffee tree looks like. What we call a coffee bean, in fact, is the germ for a cherry-like fruit.
The coffee tree grows in over 50 countries in a belt around the earth. This is called the Bean Belt.
The coffee tree grows between 500 and 2,000 meters above sea level and requires special climatic conditions.
An average temperature of 19-25º C, abundant rain during the growing season, and fertile soil.
The coffee tree can easily withstand a low temperature for a short period but not frost.
Therefore, coffee cultivation can only take place in subtropical and tropical climates.
The coffee trees can be up to 30 meters high.
They are grown to be about 10 feet tall for easier harvest height.
But be cropped down to 2-3 meters depending on the place of cultivation.
The pruning makes it easier to fit and pick the coffee carriers.
Only when the tree is 4 four years old does it yield a good harvest.
In several places, shade trees are planted between the coffee trees.
The shade trees act as parasols that protect against the sun and enhance the soil’s microclimate for the coffee trees’ benefit.
The coffee tree flowers are white and smell like jasmine.
Flowering lasts 2-3 days, and after flowering comes green berries that turn deep red when ripe.
From flowering to the final ripening of the berries, it takes 8-9 months.
A coffee tree will often have flowers, green berries, and ripe berries.
Where does coffee come from in the world?
Many of the countries that make the coffee have their own answers on where coffee comes from.
Yemen is no exception.
Although Yemen today is not known for their coffee exports, they certainly have their place in history.
Coffee with chocolate originates from the coffee beans harvested in the highlands of Yemen.
Only when Yemen no longer exported coffee in larger quantities than coffee roasters began to add chocolate flavors.
The beans from Yemen, namely, have a natural sweetness and chocolate flavor.
The region has been ravaged by war for many years, which has had an impact on production.
But the biggest culprit is the demand for Khat. The euphoric drug, there is high demand and a higher price.
About 75% of the population in Yemen chews Khat.
Slowly but surely, coffee production is growing.
But due to the turmoil of the war, it is still difficult to get it exported.
Therefore, it is very likely that a long time will pass before you can again get Mokha from Yemen.
White coffee from Yemen or White coffee Yemen means a coffee with milk.
Java coffee from Indonesia
120 million people, around the approx. 70 coffee-producing countries are employed in the coffee industry.
In Indonesia, up to 80% of those who work with coffee production are women.
Indonesia, known for its Java coffee, has been harvesting coffee since the late 1600s.
It was a Dutch Governor who in 1696 sent coffee cuttings from Yemen to Indonesia.
Unfortunately, the first shipment did not survive, but a new shipment of coffee cuttings sent in 1699 took root.
The first export coffee harvest came in 1711 and has grown today to produce more than 500,000 tonnes of coffee per year.
The cuttings were planted in the Java area and hence the name. Later in the story, Desert animals found themselves eating coffee, or rather, someone invented to lead in the Desert animal’s stool.
Here they found coffee beans and coffee thirsty as they were, made them into the coffee.
Maybe not quite the way it went, but the fact is that one of the world’s most expensive coffee makers, Kopi Luwak, originates from the Java area.
About 150,000 tonnes of coffee Indonesia exports come from Sumatra.
The slightly lower-lying coffee plantations are perfect for Robusta beans.
Most of them are used to make instant coffee.
But Robusta is also the bean that delivers the coveted Crema on top of an espresso.
With climate change in mind, it is conceivable that it is precisely Robusta coffee beans that will find their way to more countries.
Uganda
Uganda’s largest export product is Uganda Coffee. They produce both Robusta and Arabica beans.
But due to the falling demand for Robusta beans in the 1980s, several coffee farmers have reshaped their plantations.
Instead, they produce Cocoa leaves, which unfortunately have an incredibly high demand.
Although Uganda coffee is not among the best known or sought after coffee.
It certainly still has its justification.
Uganda, located in the butter hole between Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Kenya, has experienced many civil wars and famines.
But even though coffee production has been fluctuating, it has always been of high quality.
The area of ​​central Africa is perfect for growing coffee.
Nor does it appear that climate change will adversely affect coffee production.
Whether Kenya coffees are better or whether they have just been better at burning themselves is unknown.
But after all, it’s not much north we need to get to the coffee mother country of Ethiopia.
The coffee cuttings, which have led to coffee production in Uganda, originate precisely from Ethiopia.
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Other countries
Coffee-producing countries …
Here are the coffee-producing countries. If you gathered it all in one place, it would fill more than Portugal (which incidentally does not produce coffee …)
The cultivation of coffee began in Ethiopia in Kaffa province.
From here, it came to Yemen via the port city of Mokha.
Coffee makers in Africa:
South Africa, Sierra Leone, Zaire, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Spanish Guinea, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, the Central African Republic, Rowanda, Mozambique, Madagascar, Burundi, Malawi, Nigeria, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Gabon.
Coffee makers in Asia:
Thailand, China, Vietnam, India, Laos, Indonesia, Yemen, Malaysia, Timor, New Guinea, and the Philippines.
Coffee makers in South America:
Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, Suriname, Bolivia and Guyana.
Coffee makers in Central America:
Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua.
World Map of Coffee Exports
