The Science of Coffee

Welcome to our science of coffee section! Here we bring you the details about coffee and how it makes its way to you. Each month we will be adding new content to this section in order to give you a straightforward look at the fascinating world of coffee. Our first stage of this series takes a deeper look at the coffee plant.

What is coffee?
Coffee is a member of the Rubiacea family and the word is derived from the Latin genus Coffea. The coffee plant that we know today came from Ethiopia and was spread throughout the world by various traders and farmers. Coffee plants range in size from shrubs to large trees; in fact, there are roughly 25 major species of coffee plants.

The coffee plants that Seattle's Best Coffee uses for its coffee come from the Coffea arabica species. These plants are very sensitive to climate and thrive in areas whose temperature remains between 59 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why when you look at a map of Arabica coffee growing regions throughout the world, all of them are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. In addition to temperature, coffee is also heavily dependent on water, and does very well in climates that receive over 60 inches of rain each year.

It takes an Arabica coffee tree between three and five years to mature and produce fruit, and trees can continue producing beans until they are 30 years old. The unripe fruit starts out a brilliant green and within 6 to 8 months changes to a deep red when it is ready for harvesting. The bean that goes into making a cup of coffee is actually safely imbedded inside the fruit, and is extracted through a very specific series of drying, hulling, polishing, and sorting before roasting.