Where does coffee come from?



Coffee, our favorite drink, which we can't live without. We certainly know how to enjoy it in the Netherlands. Every day, around 6.5 million liters of coffee are consumed in our little country.

Did you know that we Dutch people drink about 150 liters of coffee per person per year?

I get it, it helps you start your day, you can end a nice meal with it, and if you have the right coffee, it's just super delicious!

But it doesn't grow here... How did we learn to love this wonderful drink and where exactly does it come from?

First, I'll take a brief detour into the history of coffee, then return to the "Coffee Belt," the symbolic belt around the equator. Coffee beans are grown only in these regions.

The origin of coffee

The coffee plant was discovered in the 10th century in Ethiopia, where goat herder Kaldi noticed that his herd of goats began to dance very happily after eating a certain bush.

It was not until the 15th century that this plant spread towards Yemen and thus reached the Middle East, where the coffee culture that we still know today arose.

From the 17th century onwards, more and more Europeans began importing coffee beans from Arabia, and coffee houses soon opened in major European cities.

The Netherlands made coffee popular

Ultimately, it was the Dutch who succeeded in shipping the coffee cherry seeds to the Dutch East Indies colonies. A highly profitable coffee trade soon flourished, and more and more coffee plantations were established on the Indonesian islands.

Also read: The history of coffee beans

The Coffee Belt

The coffee plant, especially the Arabica plant, is a sensitive plant that requires a very specific habitat to thrive. It must be pleasantly warm, have plenty of rainfall, and have very fertile soil.

But it mustn't freeze there. Only in a very specific area around the equator are these ideal conditions, which is why this area is also called the 'coffee belt'.

In the image below you can see exactly how this  belt runs and what the coffee producing countries are.

Top 5 coffee producing countries

Coffee is currently grown on four different continents and in more than 40 countries. The largest producers are Brazil and Vietnam, followed by Colombia and Indonesia, with Ethiopia bringing up the rear.

See below how much coffee is produced in these countries per year.

Country	Production (in tons)
Brazil	3,009,402
Vietnam	1,683,971
Colombia	885,120
Indonesia	760,963
Ethiopia	482,561

Source: https://www.atlasbig.com/en-us/countries-coffee-production

The coffee plant

Coffee beans come from the coffee plant, a type of shrub that can grow very tall. Coffee farmers trim them short to keep the harvest as manageable as possible.

These plants produce branches laden with coffee berries, which contain the coffee seeds we call coffee beans. The two most common types of coffee beans are Arabica and Robusta.

Photo: The Coffee Quest

Arabica coffee beans

Arabica coffee beans are the most popular type of coffee and are said to be the very first coffee plant. Arabica coffee beans are oval in shape, have a distinctive center, and are often larger than Robusta beans .

The complex flavors and pronounced acidity make Arabica coffee beans popular with coffee connoisseurs because they have a sweeter, smoother taste, with notes of fruit, flowers, chocolate, and nuts.

Arabica coffee beans are generally more expensive than Robusta . This is because this delicate bean is very demanding regarding its habitat and weather conditions, and requires high altitudes to grow (between 500m and 2500m above sea level).

Also read: 100% Arabica, what exactly is this?

Robusta coffee beans

Most Robusta coffee beans are grown in Africa, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Robusta has much lower acidity levels and therefore tastes less sweet.

Due to its lack of complexity and stronger flavors, the Robusta coffee bean can have notes of wood and burnt rubber.

Traditionally, the Robusta coffee bean is popular for espressos because of the richer flavor and firm crema layer you get with these coffee beans.

Robusta coffee grows much lower (up to 1000m above sea level), produces more and faster fruit than the Arabica plant and has more berries per coffee bush.

Because these coffee beans are much less sensitive to diseases and weather conditions, they grow more easily and are generally a lot cheaper than Arabica coffee beans.

Robusta beans also contain significantly more caffeine than Arabica beans, sometimes even twice as much! This also explains why they have fewer natural enemies.

Where do decaffeinated coffee beans grow?

Decaffeinated coffee beans do not exist, because caffeine occurs naturally in coffee beans.

Decaffeinated coffee is made by washing the caffeine out with water. The coffee beans are then dried again to restore their normal moisture content.

Even though the coffee beans can be called caffeine-free after this process, there is always a tiny bit of caffeine left in the coffee bean.

Also read: Caffeine-free coffee, aka decaf, how do you make it?

Also read: Decaffeinated coffee, everything you need to know.