We all know how embarrassing it is to find yourself talking to a botanist on Tinder only to realize you can’t tell a fern from a cycad. But did you know that your daily caffeine fix comes from the fruit of a tree?
Most people probably couldnt tell you what a coffee tree looks like if they tried with a gun to their head. Were going to fix that tonight, ladies and gentlemen.
Coffee is one of the world’s most popular beverages, with over 400 billion cups consumed every year. But have you ever wondered where coffee comes from and what a coffee tree actually looks like?
As a coffee enthusiast, I was curious to learn all about the source of my daily caffeine fix. In this article, we’ll explore the identifying features of the coffee plant, including its leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, and growth habits
Coffee comes from woody evergreen shrubs or small trees of the Coffea genus, which belongs to the Rubiaceae family. There are over 120 known species, but only two are widely cultivated for commercial coffee production:
- Coffea arabica (responsible for around 75% of global coffee)
- Coffea canephora, commonly called robusta coffee (provides the remaining 25% of coffee)
Arabica and robusta coffee grow best in tropical climates with warm temperatures abundant rainfall and nutrient-rich volcanic soil. The major coffee-growing regions are in Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and parts of Africa.
On coffee plantations, the trees are typically pruned to 6-12 feet tall for convenient harvesting. But under natural conditions, a coffee tree can reach up to 30 feet in height.
Now let’s look at the key physical characteristics that help identify coffee plants.
Examining the Leaves
Coffee trees have shiny, dark green oval leaves that grow in opposite pairs along the branches. The leaves are leathery and waxy, with a prominent central vein and slightly wavy margins. They measure 3-6 inches in length.
Arabica coffee leaves tend to be more elongated with a tapered tip, while robusta leaves are broader and more rounded. But in general, the leaves have an evergreen, laurel-like appearance.
An interesting fact: The leaves contain chlorophyll that enables photosynthesis to occur. So healthy green leaves are vital for bean production!
Observing the Flowers
Coffee trees produce fragrant white flowers that bloom in clusters where the leaves meet the branches. The sweet floral scent is often described as similar to jasmine.
The flowers have five petals in a star shape, with a tubular corolla. They are quite small, measuring just 0.5 inches wide.
On Coffea arabica trees, flowers bloom from early spring to summer. Coffea canephora trees flower later, from summer to early fall. The blooming period lasts around 2-3 weeks.
Bees and other insects pollinate the short-lived coffee blossoms. Once pollinated, the flowers fall off and the fruit starts to develop.
Examining the Fruit
The coffee “cherry” is a fleshy red or purple fruit that encases the familiar coffee beans. It’s technically classified as a drupe – a stone fruit with a thin skin and pulpy interior surrounding a hard seed.
Coffee cherries grow singularly or in clusters along the branches. They ripen around 8-9 months after flowering, turning from green to dark red. At maturity, their average size is 0.5-1 inch wide.
The pulp is sweet and juicy, surrounding 1-2 light green coffee beans. But don’t try eating the raw beans – they’re quite bitter!
When harvesting coffee, pickers look for bright red cherries to pluck, choosing only the ripest fruits. The skin and pulp get removed during processing to extract the beans.
Checking Out the Seeds
The seeds inside the coffee cherry are the coffee beans. Most cherries contain two flat bean halves that nestle together, back to back, though some have just one bean.
When freshly harvested, the beans are pale green and soft. Their high moisture content makes them prone to spoiling, so they get dried until the bean interior turns light brown.
The now hardened coffee beans have longitudinal ridges along their oval sides. Roasting transforms them into the familiar rich, dark brown color and brings out the signature coffee taste and aroma.
Observing the Bark and Height
The bark of a coffee tree starts off smooth and light gray on young trees. As the tree matures, the bark becomes scaly with deep grooves and ridges. Older trunks and branches have dark gray, rough textured bark.
Along with the leaves, the bark helps protect the inner transport tissues that circulate water, nutrients and sugars throughout the tree.
Under ideal natural conditions, a coffee tree can grow up to 30 feet tall. However, on commercial plantations, pruning and coppicing (cutting back the main stem) keeps most coffee trees at a shrub-like height of 6-15 feet for easy harvesting.
Identifying Key Features
To summarize, here are the key identifying features of the coffee plant:
- Oval, evergreen leaves arranged in opposite pairs along the stems
- Small white, jasmine-scented flowers blooming in axillary clusters
- Red coffee cherries ripening 8-9 months after flowering
- Green coffee beans nestled in pairs inside the pulp
- Dark gray, furrowed bark on mature trunks and branches
- Slender growth habit reaching 15-30 feet tall
Armed with this handy visual guide, you can now confidently identify coffee trees! Understanding the coffee plant’s morphology and growth characteristics also demystifies the origins of your daily brew.
So the next time you savor an aromatic cup of coffee, you’ll have a deeper appreciation for the fascinating coffee tree that made it all possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I identify a coffee tree?
Look for shiny, dark green oval leaves in opposite pairs along branches, small white jasmine-scented flowers in leaf axils, red ripening fruit, gray furrowed bark, and a slender growth habit up to 30 feet tall.
What is the best climate for growing coffee trees?
Coffee thrives in tropical environments with warm temperatures around 75°F, consistent rainfall (40-80 inches per year), and nutrient-rich volcanic soil at high elevations up to 6,000 feet.
How long does it take a coffee tree to produce beans?
It takes approximately 3-4 years for a newly planted coffee tree to start bearing fruit. The time from flowering to harvest of ripe cherries is 8-9 months. Trees reach peak production between 5-10 years old.
What color are coffee beans when they are picked?
Coffee beans begin pale green when inside the ripe cherry. After processing to remove the outer fruit, the beans are dried until they turn light brown. Roasting then transforms them into the familiar dark brown color.
Do coffee trees lose their leaves?
No, coffee trees are evergreens so they do not shed all their leaves at once. The leaves persist for up to 3 years before falling off. New leaf growth flushes occur periodically.
Understanding the unique features and growth habits of the coffee tree gives you insight into the origins of your daily cup of coffee. Next time you drink your morning brew, you can appreciate the fascinating caffeine-producing plant behind it.
Where Does Coffee Come From?
Coffee comes from a plant! Coffee plants are woody evergreens that can grow up to 10 meters tall when growing in the wild. Most of the world’s coffee grows within the Bean Belt, the area around the equator between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. This region includes parts of Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. 
Coffee beans develop inside a “cherry” that grows from these plants. In fact, the term “coffee bean” is misleading; the beans we roast to make coffee are actually seeds. You’ll usually find two of these seeds inside each cherry-like fruit of the coffee plant. Coffee producers pick these cherries at just the right level of ripeness needed for them to express the most delicious flavor possible. Each type of coffee has its own specific maturity and harvesting process, depending on how long it takes for it to hit peak taste quality. After the coffee cherries are harvested, the beans are extracted from the fruit and, eventually, roasted. It is at this point that the coffee finally becomes the dark brown bean we all recognize.
What Coffee Trees Look Like:
The coffee plant has dark green, oval-shaped leaves that are usually waxy and leathery. They grow opposite each other on the stem in pairs, and theyre attached to the stem by a short petiole (leaf stalk).
Did you know there are coffee flowers? The flowers are small and white and grow in clusters, and many people describe them as smelling similar to jasmine. About 6 to 8 weeks after pollination, the flowers disappear and are replaced by the coffee fruit .
The fruit, or coffee “beans,” grow inside of a fleshy red berry that we call a coffee “cherry.” (Its not actually a cherry, but again, nobodys going to fault you for using the common name.) Despite not being an actual cherry, the coffee fruit is also classified as a “stone fruit.”
As I mentioned, inside the coffee “cherry” are the seeds: those familiar coffee beans, that we roast and grind to make our coffee.
Of course, at this point, the coffee beans dont look anything like the beans we all know and love. Theyre actually more greenish-brown. And they dont really taste very good to most people. Raw “green” coffee beans are very acidic, grassy-tasting, bitter—and notably, quite hard to chew.
So the irony is, even if you used all of this information in this guide to accurately identify a coffee tree in the wild, you still wouldnt be able to get your hands on a decent cup of coffee. You need to roast those beans first!