The traditional method of planting coffee is to place 20 seeds in each hole at the beginning of the
rainy season. This method loses about 50% of the seeds' potential, as about half fail to sprout. A more effective process of growing coffee, used in Brazil, is to raise seedlings in nurseries that are then planted outside after six to twelve months. Coffee is often
intercropped with food crops, such as corn, beans, or rice during the first few years of cultivation as farmers become familiar with its requirements. In 2020, the world production of green coffee beans was 175,647,000 60 kg bags, led by Brazil with 39% of the total, followed by Vietnam, Colombia, and Indonesia. Brazil is the largest coffee exporting nation, accounting for 15% of all world exports in 2019. As of 2021, no
synthetic coffee products are publicly available but multiple
bioeconomy companies have reportedly produced first batches that are highly similar on the molecular level and are close to commercialization.
Species variations Of the two main species grown, arabica coffee (from
C. arabica) is generally more highly regarded than robusta coffee (from
C. canephora). Robusta coffee tends to be bitter and has less flavor but a better body than arabica. For these reasons, about three-quarters of the coffee cultivated worldwide is
C. arabica. Robusta strains contain about 40–50% more caffeine than arabica. Consequently, this species is used as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in many commercial coffee blends. Good quality robusta beans are used in traditional Italian
espresso blends to provide a full-bodied taste and a better foam head (known as
crema). has forced the cultivation of resistant robusta coffee in many countries. The robusta strain was first collected in 1890 from the
Lomani River, a tributary of the Congo River, and was conveyed from the Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to Brussels to Java around 1900. From Java, further breeding resulted in the establishment of robusta plantations in many countries. In particular, the spread of the devastating coffee leaf rust (caused by the fungal pathogen
Hemileia vastatrix) hastened the uptake of the resistant robusta. The pathogen results in light, rust-colored spots on the undersides of coffee plant leaves. It grows exclusively on the leaves of coffee plants. Coffee leaf rust is found in virtually all countries that produce coffee. Beans from different countries or regions can usually be distinguished by differences in flavor, aroma, body, and acidity. These taste characteristics are dependent on the coffee's growing region, genetic subspecies (
varietals), and processing. Varietals are generally known by the region in which they are grown, such as
Colombian,
Java, and
Kona. Arabica coffee beans are cultivated mainly in Latin America, eastern Africa or Asia, while robusta beans are grown in central Africa, southeast Asia, and Brazil.
Mycena citricolor, American leaf spot, is a fungus that can affect the entire coffee plant. It grows on leaves, resulting in leaves with holes that often fall from the plant. It is a threat primarily in Latin America.
Animals is a major insect pest of the world's coffee industry. In general,
C. arabica is the more sensitive species to invertebrate predation overall. Each part of the coffee plant is assailed by different animals. Nematodes attack the roots,
coffee borer beetles burrow into stems and woody material, and the foliage is attacked by over 100 species of larvae of butterflies and moths. Mass spraying of
insecticides has often proven disastrous, as predators of the pests are more sensitive than the pests themselves. Instead, integrated pest management has been developed, using techniques such as targeted treatment of pest outbreaks and managing crop environment away from conditions favoring pests. Branches infested with scale are often cut and left on the ground, which causes scale parasites to attack the scale on the fallen branches as well as in the plant. The 2-mm-long coffee borer beetle (
Hypothenemus hampei) is the most damaging insect pest of the world's coffee industry, destroying up to 50 percent or more of the coffee berries on plantations in most coffee-producing countries. The adult female beetle nibbles a single tiny hole in a coffee berry and lays 35 to 50 eggs. Inside, the offspring grow, mate, and then emerge from the commercially ruined berry to disperse, repeating the cycle. Pesticides are mostly ineffective because the beetle juveniles are protected inside the berry nurseries, but they are vulnerable to predation by birds when they emerge. When groves of trees are nearby, the
American yellow warbler,
rufous-capped warbler, and other insectivorous birds have been shown to reduce by 50 percent the number of coffee berry borers in Costa Rica coffee plantations.
Ecological effects in
Guatemala Originally, coffee was grown in the shade of trees that provided a habitat for many animals and insects. Remnant forest trees were used for this purpose, but many species have been planted as well. These include leguminous trees of the genera
Acacia,
Albizia,
Cassia,
Erythrina,
Gliricidia,
Inga, and
Leucaena, as well as the nitrogen-fixing non-legume sheoaks of the genus
Casuarina, and the silky oak
Grevillea robusta. This method is commonly called "
shade-grown coffee". Starting in the 1970s, many farmers switched their production methods to sun cultivation, in which coffee is grown in rows under full sun with little or no forest canopy. This causes berries to ripen more rapidly and bushes to produce higher yields, but the method requires the clearing of trees and increased use of fertilizer and pesticides, which damage the environment and cause health problems. Unshaded coffee plants grown with fertilizer yield the most coffee, although unfertilized shaded crops generally yield more than unfertilized unshaded crops: the response to fertilizer is much greater in full sun. While traditional coffee production causes berries to ripen more slowly and produce lower yields, the quality of the coffee is allegedly superior. According to The International Coffee Organization factors such as drought, unfavourable temperature and climate change greatly affect coffee quality
. In addition, the traditional shaded method provides living space for many wildlife species. Proponents of shade cultivation say environmental problems such as deforestation, pesticide pollution, habitat destruction, and soil and water degradation are the side effects of the practices employed in sun cultivation. The
American Birding Association,
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center,
National Arbor Day Foundation, and the
Rainforest Alliance have led a campaign for 'shade-grown' and
organic coffees, which can be sustainably harvested. Shaded coffee cultivation systems show greater biodiversity than full-sun systems, and those more distant from continuous forest compare rather poorly to undisturbed native forest in terms of habitat value for some bird species. Coffee production uses a large volume of water. On average it takes about of water to grow the coffee beans needed to produce one cup of coffee. Growing the plants needed to produce of roasted coffee in Africa, South America or Asia requires of water. As with many other forms of agriculture, often much of this is rainwater, much of which would otherwise run off into rivers or coastlines, while much water actually absorbed by the plants is
transpired back into the local environment through the plants' leaves (especially for cooling effects); broad estimates aside, consequential
margins vary considerably based on details of local geography and
horticultural practice. Coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage, such as Ethiopia.
Used coffee grounds may be used for composting or as a mulch. They are especially appreciated by worms and acid-loving plants such as blueberries. Climate change may significantly impact coffee yields during the 21st century, such as in Nicaragua and Ethiopia which could lose more than half of the farming land suitable for growing (Arabica) coffee. As of 2016, at least 34% of global coffee production was compliant with
voluntary sustainability standards such as
Fairtrade,
UTZ, and 4C (The Common Code for the Coffee Community).
Preprocessing Coffee berries are traditionally selectively picked by hand, which is labor-intensive as it involves the selection of only the berries at the peak of ripeness. More commonly, crops are strip picked, where all berries are harvested simultaneously regardless of ripeness by person or machine. After picking, green coffee is processed by one of two types of method—a dry process method which is often simpler and less labor-intensive, and a wet process method, which incorporates batch fermentation, uses larger amounts of water in the process, and often yields a milder coffee. Then they are sorted by ripeness and color, and most often the flesh of the berry is removed, usually by machine, and the seeds are fermented to remove the slimy layer of
mucilage still present on the seed. When the fermentation is finished, the seeds are washed with large quantities of fresh water to remove the fermentation residue, which generates massive amounts of
coffee wastewater. Finally, the seeds are dried. The best (but least used) method of drying coffee is using drying tables. In this method, the pulped and fermented coffee is spread thinly on raised beds, which allows the air to pass on all sides of the coffee, and then the coffee is mixed by hand. Drying is more uniform, and fermentation is less likely. Most African coffee is dried in this manner, and certain coffee farms around the world are starting to use this traditional method. is among the most expensive in the world, with bean prices reaching $160 per pound or $30 per brewed cup. Kopi luwak coffee is said to have a uniquely rich, slightly smoky aroma and flavor with hints of chocolate, resulting from the action of
digestive enzymes breaking down bean proteins to facilitate partial fermentation. three times costlier than palm civet coffee beans. == Processing ==