World of coffee Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

World of coffee - Term Paper Example After trying to make the same drink using several leaves unsuccessfully, he travelled to Ethiopia and came back with leaves that he plucked from a coffee plant. He did not produce very good coffee, but he noted a big change. This drink has since gained popularity and is the most popular beverage product in the world, and it will maintain this popularity in the future. As the years passed and coffee became common to people, its description also became clearer. Coffee species fall into two main classes, Arabica and Robusta. Arabica’s scientific name is Coffea Arabica L. while Robusta’s scientific name is Coffea canephora. The coffee trees or shrubs measure between 2 to 7 meters and have leaves that are alternate, oval, pointed, and shiny. Leaves measure between 7 to 20 centimeters long and 3 to 7 centimeters wide. Coffee shrubs produce white flowers that have thick clusters on their axils. The shrubs produce fruits that are yellow, dark red, or pink in color when ripe. When the fruits dry, they turn to brown, fleshy, and ovoid berries that are between 1.2 cm and 1.6 cm in length (Virginia, Smith, Steiman, & Elevitch, 2013). Today, coffee has evolved from an elusively understood shrub to a widely farmed plant in Africa, South America, and other regions. Since the discovery of coffee by Kaldi, farmers in various parts of the world have practiced coffee farming. Most of the coffee emanates from subtropical regions and areas that lie along the equator. Equatorial regions and subtropical countries that fall on either side of the equator are humid and warm, thereby suitable for coffee farming. Arabica coffee, for instance, performs best in these subtropical environments. Coffee farmers exist in more than fifty nations within coffee bands, all over the globe, subsuming myriad developing nations. Coffee plantations exist in areas as far as South America, India, Indonesia, Africa, and