THE BIRTH OF THE BEAN

Coffee beans spread from their beginnings in Africa to various regions of the world, enclosed in an area that has been dubbed the ‘bean belt’. Roughly framed by the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, these areas promote the growth of high quality green beans through rich porous soil, steady temperatures and rain. As with wine, the amounts of each of these elements will determine the distinction of the bean. Fertile soil, combined with reliable rainfall and ideal altitudes of between 3000-6000 feet offer near perfect pickings.

The beans themselves grow in twos within a cherry, on either the Coffea arabica plant, or the Coffea canephora (robusta). Each plant is indigenous to Africa (to the Kaffa region in Ethiopia to be precise) and bestows different benefits upon the coffee roaster; the former is the better bean and the later is more resistant with a heartier caffeine content. These two plants present a multitude of possibilities, as many variants of the beans have been established due to exposure to diverse environments and geography, as well as differing regional methods of cultivation. Just as certain wines are associated with particular regions, so too is coffee. For example, the java bean from Indonesia is considered to be the finest Arabica bean available by connoisseurs due to the optimum conditions mentioned above.

Varying combinations of these two plants result in the whole host of blends available today, and the consumption of coffee has expanded well beyond the limits of the bean belt to become an all-encompassing drink that covers the globe.