Coffee plant

The wake-up berry discovered by goats

Coffee is the seed of a shrub with red berries! Legend says an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi noticed his goats dancing all night after eating red berries. When roasted, the beans turn brown and smell wonderful. Every day the world drinks 2 billion cups of coffee! Coffee flowers smell like jasmine.

Coffee (Coffea arabica — 60%, C. canephora/robusta — 40%) comes from the mountain forests of Kaffa in Ethiopia; in the 15th century Yemeni Sufis drank it for night prayers, it spread through the Islamic world via Mecca and reached Europe in the 1600s. Each berry ('cherry') holds 2 seeds; roasting creates more than 800 aromatic compounds. Caffeine is the plant's natural pesticide against insects; in the human brain it blocks adenosine and drives away sleep. 10 million tonnes a year; Brazil (35%), Vietnam, Colombia. It supports 25 million farming families. The 'coffee belt' lies within 25° of the equator. Warming could halve arabica land by 2050. 60% of wild coffee species are threatened with extinction.

Fun facts

• Caffeine is the plant's 'poison' against insects — and we drink it!
• Roasting coffee creates 800 different aroma compounds.
• Coffee flowers smell of jasmine and last 2 days.