Coffee production

Coffee production refers to the process by which coffee beans are grown, harvested, prepared, and distributed to the consumer market. The term is also used to refer to the amount of coffee that a particular company or country grows and distributes. Countries can be part of the coffee production industry by growing the raw coffee beans, processing them into a usable form, or using the coffee in finished products. The amount of coffee produced by a country in any year is highly dependent on the weather conditions. A number of countries rely heavily on coffee production for economic health.

Background

It is unclear when coffee beans were first intentionally cultivated. There is a legend that says a Turkish goat herder noticed that when his goats ate coffee berries, they did not sleep at night. He shared this information with an abbot at a monastery who took the berries and made a beverage out of them. The abbot discovered the drink allowed him to stay awake and pray longer, and he shared this with the other monks. According to the legend, word spread about the invigorating drink, and many people in other areas began drinking it as well.

Coffee was being grown and processed into a beverage in the Arabian peninsula in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Coffee's popularity grew thanks to coffeehouses where patrons could drink it while enjoying entertainment and conversation. When travellers from other lands visited these coffeehouses, word spread about the drink.

The seventeenth century created a culture around coffee. Travellers brought coffee to Europe where coffeehouses sprang up and were as popular as they were in Arabia. Coffee's place as a favored beverage was made firm when Pope Clement VIII tried a cup and gave it his formal approval. During the 1600s, settlers brought coffee to North America. While it was slower to catch on there, the lack of tea and protests against British tea taxes that were part of upheaval of the American Revolutionary era gave the American colonies a preference for coffee that continues into the twenty-first century.

All this increased the demand for coffee. For many years, Arabia was the only place where the coffee crop was grown and prepared. People even engaged in theft and deception in an attempt to get the plants and grow coffee in other areas. In many cases, the plants did not flourish. Eventually, however, the Dutch were able to get small crops going on the islands of Java, Sumatra, and Celebes. The Dutch presented King Louis XIV of France with a small coffee plant. Meanwhile, a French naval officer transported a small offspring of this plant to the island of Martinique, where it became the "parent" of more than eighteen million coffee plants in Martinique, the Caribbean, and South and Central America.

Using seeds from these and other established coffee plantations, visitors to these lands took coffee to their own homelands. Coffee only grows in certain specific conditions that are found between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, but for countries with a supportive environment, the demand for coffee could fuel an entire economy. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the worldwide demand for coffee was second only to the demand for oil.

Overview

The coffee production process begins with the environment where the coffee trees are grown. The differences in temperature and rainfall in the various tropical areas dictate what types of coffee will grow there. The weather during the growing season influences the quality of the fully ripe cherries. Coffee cherries contain a pit, which is the coffee seed, often known as a coffee bean. The cherries are often handpicked by workers who are paid by the basket, although in some places, mechanical picking is possible.

The harvested coffee cherries are either wet or dry processed. Wet processing uses basins of water to separate mature fruit from immature fruit and waste such as leaves, while in dry processing, the cherries are sorted by hand to remove unripe fruit and debris. In either case, the processed cherries are laid out in the sun to dry. In some areas, a combination process is used where the coffee fruit is washed and treated to remove the outer skin then soaked overnight before being allowed to dry.

Regardless of which process is used to treat and dry the fruit, the next step is milling. This removes any remaining coating on the bean inside. The beans are then cleaned, sorted, and graded by quality. At this point, additional processes may happen, including aging the bean and decaffeination. Beans can be decaffeinated in one of several ways, including through the use of water, high pressure application of carbon dioxide, or the use of a solvent. The fully processed coffee bean is then ready for the consumer, whether that is a company that will roast, grind, and package it for distribution, a company that will use coffee as a flavoring or additive to another product, or an individual who will roast and grind the beans for his or her own use.

Coffee is a major crop for countries in the tropical zone, which is the area preferred by the trees on which coffee cherries grow. Beginning in the 1970s, South America took the lead in worldwide coffee production, providing nearly half of the world's coffee during that period. By 2016, Brazil led the South American countries and the world in production. Central America and Mexico accounted for another 15 percent of the world market. Other countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Côte d'Ivoire, India, and the United States, made up the rest of the world coffee market.

According to expert estimates for the 2022–23 growing and production season, the world coffee production market reached about 175 million bags of coffee. In the industry, a "bag" refers to the 60-kilogram, or 132-pound, bags that are used by coffee producers and traders.

Bibliography

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