Coffee beans are the most important primary product of the caffeine-containing plants, and the second internationally traded commodity in value, following mineral oil. The coffee plant's evolutionary source is Africa and Madagascar, with west central Africa for the robusta coffee, and Ethiopia for arabica coffee, the latter being used in beverages since about one thousand years ago.
The coffee plant belongs to the family Rubiaceae, genus Coffea L., with the economically important species being C. arabica L., C. canephora Pierre ex Fröhner (the arabicas and the robustas), and some minors. In the context of the project 'World Checklist of Rubiaceae', its chemotaxonomy was elucidated and consensually accepted, cornerstones are publications by Davis 2006 and Bremer 2009.
Since the seventeenth century, coffee cultivation has expanded from its Afro-Arabian homelands into all climatically suitable regions in the tropics. Occasionally, it succeeded other tropical crops, which experienced an economic decay, including sugar in Indonesia or Hawaii. Coffee plantations are often run by smallholders. The intensity of crop management ranges from monoculture (i.e., no shade, high inputs) to polyculture (shade overstory retained, fewer inputs, agroforestry).
Coffee is a tropical shrub with cherry-like fruits. They are processed after harvest to yield the ‘naked’ dried beans, the trade commodity green coffee, as defined in the International Coffee Agreement between producer and consumer states. Final treatment prior to consumption is the green beans' roasting and grinding; it takes place in the consumer country. The last step is the preparation of the beverage.
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