Coffea Arabica - Arabica coffee

Coffeea Arabica was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. Originally from the high altitude, humid forests of Ethiopia, where it still grows wild, Coffeea Arabica (Coffea arabica) is considered to produce the finest coffee beans.

The best known varieties are Typica and Bourbon, but from these many different strains and cultivars have been developed, such as Caturra (Brazil, Colombia), Mundo Novo (Brazil), Tico (Central America), the dwarf San Ramon and the Jamaican Blue Mountain.

Coffeea Arabica takes about seven years to mature fully and does best with 1-1.5 meters (about 40-59 inches) of rain, evenly distributed throughout the year. It is usually cultivated between 1,300 and 1,500 m altitude The plant can tolerate low temperatures, but not frost, and it does best when the temperature hovers around 20 °C (68 °F) and grown in light shade.

Two to four years after planting Coffeea Arabica produces small, white and highly fragrant flowers. The sweet fragrance resembles the sweet smell of jasmine flowers.

The flowers themselves only last a few days. The berries then begin to appear. These are dark green, until they begin to ripen, at first to yellow and then light red and finally darkening to a glossy deep red. At this point they are called 'cherries' and are ready for picking.

The Arabica plant is an evergreen, typically a large bush with dark green, oval shaped leaves that can reach a height of 14 to 20 feet fully grown. On plantations the plants are kept at a height of about two to three metres to facilitate harvesting and nourish heavy bearing of berries.

The coffee beans are actually two seeds within the fruit (in about 5% of fruit there is just one seed, this is called a peaberry). These seeds are covered in two membranes, the outer one is called the 'parchment' and the inner one is called the 'silver skin'.

Each coffee tree can produce anywhere from 0.5–5kg of dried beans, depending on the tree's individual character and the climate that season.

In perfect conditions, like those of Java, trees are planted at all times of the year and are harvested year round.

In less ideal conditions, like those in parts of Brazil, the trees have a season and are harvested only in winter.

The plants are vulnerable to damage in poor growing conditions and are also more vulnerable to pests than the Robusta plant.

Arabica coffee is grown throughout Latin America, in Central and East Africa, in India and to some extent in Indonesia.