The Coffee Bean

– Its Anatomy and Everything You Need to Know –

What do many people have in common when waking up in the morning?

A great majority will start his or her day with a rejuvenating cup of coffee.

The energizing dark liquid is one of the most popular beverages in the world. Our own created coffee universe offers us many great choices of different coffee drinks.

On top, many coffee enthusiasts truly appreciate the caffeine boost, which helps us getting through our daily lives more efficiently and energized.

Plus, coffee naturally provides us with a great variety of good health benefits. In fact, some coffee lovers would even say that it makes them happier and live longer.

But, where does this fascinating drink come from?

Surely, many people know that coffee is a plant. And, some others may also know that the coffee actually comes from a bright red coffee cherry.

But, what is inside this coffee cherry? How is it structured and how do we turn it into coffee?

In general, we can say that the different parts of a coffee cherry have an impact on the particular processing method. And, it also affects the final flavor profile and taste.

So, let’s have a look at some key points and at the basic anatomy of a coffee cherry. This will help us understanding better our so beloved daily cup of refreshing coffee.

Here is everything you need to know about the coffee bean.

What is a Coffee Bean?

Generally speaking, the coffee bean is a seed. And, it belongs to the coffea plant.

For several centuries already, people are using the coffee bean as source for the eventual beverage of coffee.

Furthermore, a coffee bean is the pit and rests inside the red or purple fruit. This fruit is often referred to as coffee cherry, or simply cherry.

The coffee fruit is also a so-called stone-fruit, just like any other ordinary cherries you might know.

Technically, coffee beans are actually not beans. But, people like to refer to them as beans, because they look very much similar to true beans.

Moreover, the fruits – you may either call them coffee cherries or coffee berries – typically contain two stones with their flat sides together.

However, a small number of coffee cherries might only contain a single seed or stone. These are then called a ‘peaberry’. Around 10 to 15% of all coffee cherries are actually peaberries.

The stimulating effects of caffeine are one reason why coffee is one of the world’s most consumed beverages these days.

Therefore, the coffee bean has become an important trade and market product.

If you would like to read more about the history of coffee, please click the article here.

The Coffee Plant

On average, a coffee tree grows 5 to 10 meters (16-33 ft) in height. And, the older the tree or coffee plant is getting the less and less leaves and fruits it is going to carry.

Overall, coffee plants can live up to an impressively 100 years.

However, the plant’s most productive years lay between 7 and 20 years. Depending on the specific coffee variety. Combined with proper taking care, such as pruning and fertilization, you can maintain and even increase its productivity and output over the years.

Worldwide, the two most economically important varieties of the coffee plant are the Arabica and the Robusta type.

Roughly, 60% of the entire world’s coffee production is Arabica. And, the remaining 40% is mostly from the Robusta coffee type.

Furthermore, Arabica coffee plants and its beans naturally contain 0.8 to 1.4% caffeine. Whereas, a Robusta coffee bean typically has between 1.7% to 4% caffeine.

If you would like to learn more about the differences between Arabica and Robusta, you can click here.

Since coffee is certainly one of the most popular and widely consumed beverages in the world, coffee beans are a major income source for many local farmers and communities.

In fact, in some developing countries, the trading product, coffee, accounts for over 50% of the nations’ foreign exchange earnings.

The ‘Coffee Bean’ Belt

These days, South America is responsible for about 45% of the entire world’s total production and exports.

By far, Brazil is the top producing nation worldwide, followed by Columbia and Indonesia.

On the other hand, the United States and Europe import more coffee than any other regions. In the USA alone, approximately 400 to 500 million cups of coffee are consumed every day.

Typically, the coffee plant and its cherries grow within a defined area. Geographically speaking, this area lies between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. It is also called the ‘bean belt’ or ‘coffee belt’.

Out of economic reasons, farmers usually grow their coffee plants in rows. And, these rows are then several meters or feet apart from each other.

In addition, some coffee farmers will also plant various fruit trees around their coffee plants. Or, they will typically plant their coffee on the sides of hills. Because, coffee plants need quite specific weather, soil and vegetation conditions to flourish properly.

For example, the Arabica coffee bean grows at temperatures between 15 to 24 degrees of Celcius (59-75 F). And, the Robusta coffee grows best at 24 to 30 degrees.

Plus, coffee plants should ideally receive between 150 and 300 cm (59-118 in) of rainfall per year.

Typically, heavy, monsoon-like rain is needed in the beginning of the season and when the coffee cherry is developing at first. And after, less rain is better later in the season, when the fruit and its coffee bean ripens inside the cherry.

Lastly but certainly not least, more and more farmers are switching back to the more original and natural way of growing and processing coffee, which is called shade-grown coffee.

10 Steps From the Coffee Bean to Your Cup

The below overview shows you a very comprehensive and summarized outline of the entire journey of the coffee bean, until it will eventually reach your very own cup.

1. Planting the coffee bean.
2. Harvesting the coffee cherries.
3. Processing the coffee cherries.
4. Drying the beans.
5. Milling the coffee beans.
6. Exporting the coffee beans.
7. Tasting the coffee.
8. Roasting the coffee.
9. Grinding the coffee.
10. Brewing the coffee.
11. Extra: Enjoying your coffee.

Here you can find more details about each of the 10 steps in particular.

In general and besides the crucial farming and processing methods, other important key steps include proper roasting, grinding and brewing.

If especially these steps are done in a proper way, your final coffee product can truly taste amazing.

As a result, it brings out all of the characteristic flavors of its specific coffee bean we are looking for.

The Anatomy & Layers of a Coffee Cherry

First of all, the skin of a coffee cherry is called exocarp.

Until the cherry ripens to a bright red, yellow, orange or even pink color, which depending on its variety, the coffee cherry is initially green in color.

However, we should not confuse green coffee cherries with the green coffee beans.

These are actually two different things. Green coffee cherries are essentially the unroasted seeds from inside the ripe coffee cherry.

Furthermore and beneath the cherry skin or exocarp, we can find a thin layer, called mesocorp. It is also more commonly known as the pulp.

Going deeper inside, the inner layer of the pulp is the mucilage.

In addition, there is also a layer of pectin underneath the mucilage. Quite importantly, these particular layers are full of sugar. And, this fact will then play an important role during the fermentation process.

Next, we are getting to the actual coffee seeds.

Technically speaking, the coffee seeds are called the endosperm. But, we are actually much more familiar with the term and better know them as simply beans.

As mentioned already, we can usually find two beans in a single coffee cherry. And, each one of these will be covered by a thin layer, called epidermis.

The epidermis is more commonly known as the silverskin. Basically, it is a papery hull, which is commonly called parchment or endocarp, which would be the technical term for it.

First Steps of Selection & Processing

Typically, you are taking off and removing the parchment from the coffee bean.

This would be the first step in the dry milling process. For this process, coffee producers are either using automated machines or millstones to remove any remaining fruit plus the dried layer of parchment from the coffee beans.

However, coffee farmers may also sometimes not remove the parchment. Instead, they are selling their green coffee beans with this layer intact. Then, this particular kind of coffee is called parchment coffee.

Moreover, when having a closer look at the silverskin or parchment, it is actually a group of sclerenchyma cells. These cells are naturally and strongly attached to the coffee bean itself.

They are there to essentially support and protect the seed. During the process of roasting, they will come off. This is when they are commonly known as chaff.

The ‘Un-normal’ Coffee Bean

Additionally and as we found out already, sometimes, there is only one seed inside a coffee cherry.

If this happens, the single coffee is usually much rounder and larger compared to others. On average, this phenomenon occurs in about 10% of all coffee cherries. We know these beans as peaberries then.

Peaberries can either be an anatomical variation of the coffee plant. Or, they can also develop when there is maybe not enough pollination in the surrounding area of the coffee plants.

So, in summary, peaberries can sometimes simply be the result of seeds failing to grow. And, this can either be due to genetic causes or environmental conditions.

Most commonly, you can find peaberries in the parts of the coffee plants that are more exposed to severe weather conditions, such as harsh sunlight or overly heavy rain.

As you can imagine, there is quite a lot of debate going on when it comes to peaberries.

Coffee enthusiasts like to argue whether peaberries have a sweeter and more desirable flavor or not. That is also the reason why peaberries are sometimes sold as a premium coffee product.

Maybe its taste and sweetness is debatable and depends on each one of our own preferences. But, when it comes to roasting, the rounder coffee bean shape of peaberries actually allows for better rolling in the roasting drum.

Therefore, you should better roast peaberries separately from other coffee beans. Otherwise, you might risk getting an inconsistent roast overall.

Coffee Bean & Our Daily Cup

Most of the times, coffee producers are removing and discarding the coffee cherry fruit and skin. Not everyone sees further use and need for it.

However, some farmers are also drying these with the purpose of making cascara for tea and other products.

In general, it is actually quite difficult to properly remove the skin and mucilage from a coffee bean. Over time, coffee producers have therefore developed different processing methods in order to achieve this.

Each one of these methods has its very own characteristic effects on the flavor profile of the final coffee product.

For instance, some farmers are choosing to wash their coffee and remove all of the fruit flesh before drying. But, in natural coffee, the fruit flesh is actually removed after drying and not before.

Furthermore, during the honey and pulped natural processing, the skin and parts of the mucilage may be removed before drying the coffee beans. However, there may still be some remaining mucilage and other layers, which will be removed after drying then.

If you are leaving the mucilage on, this will usually make your coffee sweeter. And, the beverage will generally have more body.

It is easier to understand the reason why the overall sweetness of coffee is changing, if you compare both the dry and wet processes with each other.

What Coffee is Best for me?

At the end of the day, we need to decide what kind of flavor and degree of sweetness as well as acidity we do prefer for our daily cup of coffee.

And, the different processing methods of coffee will have an impact on our own preferred cup.

Naturally and when you are picking off the coffee cherries from the plant, they will immediately start to germinate.

Furthermore, the reaction of germination uses the sugar in the coffee seeds or beans themselves.

And, since natural processed coffee beans are going to the drying stage earlier than pulped naturals or washed coffee beans, more sugar will remain in the natural processed one.

As a result, this coffee and its beans will turn out being sweeter then.

Moreover, washed coffees typically have clean and more consistent flavors. Hence, this can lead to a higher level of acidity.

In comparison, natural coffees have a lot more fruitiness, sweetness and body.

Additionally, there are also the sugars of the mucilage to keep in mind. And, these will also ferment during both the dry and wet processing, which will also impact the final flavor of our coffee.

All in all, it is quite important to carefully monitor all processes of coffee making. And, it is especially essential to ensure a consistent drying process, without any much change to it.

Otherwise, the entire process of fermentation becomes quite difficult to control and therefore unpredictable. This can eventually lead to undesirable and un-preferred coffee qualities that we are actually not aiming for to achieve.

Final Thoughts – The Coffee Bean

As we can see, it can be quite helpful to understand some of the basics of a coffee bean.

It helps us to get a better idea of the entire coffee production and its stages until these energizing coffee beans finally reach our very own cup of coffee.

Different washing, drying and roasting processes will bring out different flavors and other characteristics in our coffee.

Understanding these processes and how they influence the final flavor profile can maybe help us choosing the right kind of coffee for us next time we are shopping.

Coffee is one of the most consumed and appreciated beverages in the world. And, there are literally thousands of different coffee types and drinks for us to try and choose from.

In my opinion, this is essentially the entire beauty of our little ‘coffee universe’.

It enables all of us to determine and express our very own coffee desires. Plus, the dark liquid is healthy and even makes people happier.

So, how about you?

What interests you most about coffee beans and all of its factors surrounding it? Is there a particular type of coffee bean you prefer?

Is there maybe anything else that we could discuss and highlight when talking about coffee beans?

Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with us.

Until then, stay safe, healthy and properly caffeinated.

Cheers!