COFFEE (Coffea spp)

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 COFFEE (Coffea spp)
• Coffee belongs to the family Rubiaceae.

• It is a tropical crop that has spread to the

subtropical world.

• It is essentially grown for the beans which are

roasted, ground and brewed to make a
stimulating and refreshing beverage.
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• Its use as a beverage was first discovered in Arabia,

and spread throughout the world.

• Although coffee is of African origin, very few

indigenous people roast and drink coffee.

• Notable producing countries are Brazil, Columbia,

Bolivia, Ecuador, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

• In Africa, most coffee is produced in Ivory Coast,

Tanzania, Uganda, DR Congo and Kenya.
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The most important economic species

1. Coffea arabica:
• It produces about 80% of the world’s coffee.

• It is grown on upland or high elevations 1000-

1500m above sea level where condition are much
cooler.

• It is usually grown at 5-8°N and S of the equator,

and produces the best quality coffee.

• The caffeine content ranges from 0.5-1.9% of the

dry matter of seed.
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Coffee; the most important economic species cont..

2. Coffea robusta (canephora):

• It was first found in the Congo and as such,
sometimes referred to as Congo coffee.

• It is the form preferred by manufacturers of instant

coffee.

• It is grown mainly in West Africa and more vigorous

than arabica.

• It produces about 20% of the world coffee.

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Coffee; the most important economic species cont..

3. Coffea liberica:
• It is found in the lowlands of Guinea, Liberia,
Ghana and Gabon.

• The leaves are larger than the others and

produces under 1% of the world coffee.

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Origin and Distribution

• The origin of arabica coffee is Ethiopia where it
occurs naturally at high elevation, from where it was
introduced to Arabia and other countries.

• Subsequently, production from these introductions

was spread widely throughout the Caribbean and
Central and South America.

• Coffee grows best between lat. 11 degrees N and S

but the bulk is cultivated between 5 and 8 N and S of
the equator.
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Coffee; Origin and Distribution cont..

• Topography : it depends on the type; arabica likes high

elevations.

• Rainfall: 1500mm, 1800mm, 2300mm for minimum,

optimum and maximum respectively.

• Temperature: minimum, optimum and maximum are 15,

21, and 24 degrees C, respectively.

• It is insensitive to day length and moderate winds are ideal.

• Soil: coffee is grown on variety of soils, but it prefers rich

deep loam soils with high organic matter content. pH must
be 6.5 to 7.
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Botany

Coffee Crop 10
Botany cont..

• It is an evergreen shrub or small tree that can grow up

to 5m when left unpruned.

• Root: stout short tap root which bears many lateral

roots that grow horizontally at the upper part. Below
these are lower laterals which grow deeply into the soil.

• Branching: dimorphic

• Leaves: leaves are opposite, dark green when matured,

they have short petioles and pointed tip. The leaf
margin is entire.
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Botany cont..

•Inflorescence: fragrant white flowers are borne in

auxillary clusters on primary or secondary branches.
•Pollination is mostly cross.
•Fruits are borne in clusters, and it takes 7-9 months to
mature. The fruit is a drupe and oval when matured,
surmounted by calyx scar. They have short pedicels.
- Immatured fruits are green and ripens to pink, violet or
crimson red. The exocarp is very tough. Dried fruits turn
black.
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Coffee Flowers 13
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Parts of Coffee Fruit

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Propagation

Germinated seedlings of coffee

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• Seeds from high yielding, disease resistant plants are
selected for cultivation. Stem cuttings can also be used.
• Fruits are depulped through fermentation and
mashing.
• The seeds are nursed, germination takes about 3-5
weeks and transplanting is usually done at the 6-leaf
stage i.e. after 10 months in nursery.
• Land clearing is normally total, lining and pegging is
done at a spacing of 3x3 m in arabica.
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 After Planting Operations

1. Filling of vacancies
2. Weed control
3. Intercropping
4. Mulching: very important in coffee cultivation. It is
done to cool the soil, reduce moisture loss and to
control weed growth.
5. Shading: this is essential for young trees, but not
advisable to leave permanent shade trees.
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After Planting Operations cont..

6. Fertilization: it responds to both organic and inorganic fertilizers.

Nitrogen is very essential for leaf, stem and fruit development.

7. Disease and pest:notable diseases are brown eye leaf spot, fruit
spot, black berry disease of coffee and die back( physiological
disease where the tips of fruiting branches die and lose leaves
due to overbearing.

- Bacterial blight, damping off and rust can also be serious

diseases.

- Important pest are crickets, grasshoppers, red ants and termites,

stem and berry borers.

- Apply recommended chemicals in all cases. 18

After Planting Operations cont..

8. Pruning: this is very necessary. The objective is to

allow air and light penetrate the foliage, and this will
a. Create a less favorable micro-climate for certain pests
and diseases.
b. Facilitate berry picking
c. Make spraying more efficient
d. Improve yields by encouraging the development of
lateral branches
e. To control fruiting.
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Harvesting

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Manual
 Harvesting
• First fruits are produced 3-4 years after planting and full
bearing takes 6-8 years.

• Fruits mature 7-8months after fertilization and

harvesting is done in cycles of 10-14 days.

• Yield :varies between 600-1500kg/ha.

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Coffee Harvester
Machine Harvesting 22
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Processing

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Processing cont….

There are two basic methods of processing:

1. Dry method- whole berries are spread out thinly on

mats in the sun or elevated platforms as in cocoa to
dry. This takes about 15-25 days.

- The berries are then hulled and ground.

2. Wet method- berries are washed and depulped in a

machine. Seeds can be squeezed out, washed, dried
and kept for conditioning to develop the flavour. Local
preparations are made by grinding seeds in a mortar
and winnowed. 24
- At the factory, dried beans are weighed and roasted.
Degree of roasting should be controlled (Over roasting
results in volatilization of the important chemical
compounds like oils, caffeine and caffeol, thus losing
the quality).
- They are then ground and blended to get the type of
coffee desired and packaged.
- Coffee contains about 1-2% of the alkaloid caffeine
which gives the stimulating properties and caffeol (10-
18%) which gives the flavour. 25
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Constraints :

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