5 facts about coffee

1. The ‘coffea’ plant that can grow in excess of 7-metres high bears coffee ‘cherries’.

2. The flesh can be nibbled and is sweet, with mild floral and melon flavours. Inside are two very important seeds, known to us as coffee beans.

3. Coffee has been enjoyed for centuries and is believed to be native to Ethiopia. Now grown in over 70-countries within a seam between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn (named in the industry as the coffee belt) it has fast become one of the world’s biggest exports, bar oil.

4. The plants are evergreen, classified under the Rubiaceae family, and blossom with white flowers and clusters of coffee cherries that are green at first, but over time turn to yellow and then a wonderful crimson colour when they are ripe.

5. It can take up to a year for a cherry to mature and five years for a tree to reach its full production, yielding an annual average of 10lbs of cherries. That’s just 2lbs of beans.