Coffee Species : Coffea Arabica

Posted by From Farmer to Blogger at 12:49

This is the most sought after coffee specie with high quality tasting characteristics, little acidity and caffeine. Coffea Arabica is originally grown in the mountains of Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula (hereof its name - arabica) as well as the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. However the trees are now almost all mixed with another planted ones.

Arabica green beans can also be found in Boma Plateau in southeastern Sudan and on Mt Marsabit in northern Kenya. But it is unclear whether these are native species or naturalized.

Coffea Arabica is a bush which grows 9 to 12 meters tall but the height can be regulated in order to give more crops. The plant has an open branching system; its leaves are of a lustrous dark green color, have elongated form (6–12 cm long and 4–8 cm broad), and are opposite to each other. The blossom is white; the fruit is drupaceous (also called a "berry"), when it ages, its color ranges from bright red to purple and usually has two seeds (the so-called “coffee bean”).

Arabica coffeeIt takes up to 7 years for coffee Arabica to start yielding. Arabica is typically cultivated at a height of 1,300 and 1,500 m but there are species planted at the sea level and at 2.800 m height. The plant is able to stand low temperatures but not frost. It needs a little shade to be grown if opposite to Robusta which does very well under direct sun rays.

During couple of years after planting, coffea Arabica gives yield of small and very fragrant blossom. When flowers open on a sunny day, they crop great number of small green beans or berries. This can bring to low quality coffee beans and bad harvest in the following years as the bush tends to foster berries maturing, thus injuring its health. In order to avoid this, the plants are usually pruned.

Coffee blossom survives only several days and begin to fade away resulting in green berries. After awhile, the fruit begins ripening turning from green into yellow, light red and then deep red. These green coffee beans are called cherries and are ready to be picked now. The berries often ripen unevenly, thus there’s a need of hand picking to select ready beans of coffee and leave green berries to mature.

Arabica coffee berriesA so-called coffee tree can give from 0.5 kg to 5kg of dried beans depending on some specific tree features and climate. Each berry typically contains two locules with 2 beans inside, though it can also contain 3 or 1 bean called peaberry.

Peaberry (also caracoli) is a coffee bean. Usually coffee cherry is a fruit with two sections and 2 or even 3 beans inside it. But there are cases when only one of the two beans gets embryonated and the other vanishes. This pea-formed bean is called peaberry. Around 5% of all coffee beans yielded are green peaberry coffee beans.

Kona coffee is in fact an Arabica coffee variety grown on the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa in the North and South Kona Districts of the Big Island of Hawaii. Solely coffees grown in Kona regions can be added "Kona" prefix. The peculiar "Kona" climate along with its sunny mornings, thick clouds or rains in the afternoon, and a rich soil are the perfect conditions for Kona coffee beans growth.