I'm sure you've all heard the saying, "Magic Beans are real, they're called coffee". Well, what are coffee beans, and where do they come from? Interestingly enough, coffee beans are not a bean at all, but the seed of a cherry-like fruit that grows on coffee trees. The fruit is red when ripe, and the two seeds inside are what we call coffee beans.
Coffee cherries are grown on trees that need warm, tropical and subtropical climates to grow, so you can find them in countries like Brazil, Ethiopia, Colombia, Indonesia and my personal favorite, Costa Rica. Most aren't very big in height, making it easier to reach all the branches when picking the coffee cherries.
There are two main types of coffee grown, arabica and robusta. Higher quality arabica is considered to be the more flavorful of the two. Robusta coffee tends to be bitter and used in lower quality blends, while arabica has a range of tastes and is a higher quality.
Arabica coffee trees take a longer time to produce coffee, between 3-5 years and only produces about a pound a year. Arabica coffee is harder to grow than robusta, often growing at higher altitudes. Arabica coffee is predominantly used by specialty grade coffee roasters as it is thought to be the more superior of the two grades by many.
Coffee Beanery uses Grade 1 Specialty coffee in our roasts, which is the highest quality bean available. It means that the beans have no primary defects and the drinker will experience the most flavorful beans.
Try one of our specialty coffees today!
