Where Do Your Coffee Beans Come From
Coffee is an international drink. There are few, if any, places you can travel where coffee is not an appreciated beverage. However, the tree itself is a bit prejudice about the type of environment in which it will produce. It only grows and produces well in the tropics.
Though it is enjoyed around the world it is produced only in areas close to the equator. This product is harvested on a grander scale than almost all other products.
Columbia is known for its great coffee. Because of this you might think that they are the majority of all copy produced comes from Columbia. But surprisingly that is not the case. The majority of all coffee in the world comes from Brazil. They produce 28% of all the coffee consumed. Columbia is the second largest producing 16% of the coffee consumed in the world. Next is Indonesia at 7% and then Mexico at 4%.
Part of the coffee trees prejudice is that it prefers areas of high altitude. That being said the tree has been acclimated to produce fairly well in other areas as well.
The harvesting of coffee beans in Brazil creates hundreds of jobs. There are many employees needed to care for the plants as well as harvest the beans. Because Columbia is a poorer country much of the harvesting done there is still quite primitive.
Can anything grow on a volcano? Coffee sure can. The Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii proves to the perfect location for coffee trees to thrive. The hot tropical sun and afternoon rains make for the perfect environment.
The islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in Indonesia produce a great deal of the world’s coffee and have for many, many years. Like Columbia, their methods are primitive, but this does not hinder the growth of hundreds of acres of coffee trees or their production.
Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas in southern Mexico are also contenders in the coffee harvest. The high altitudes there make them a perfect home for the coffee tree, especially the Altura bean which feeds on conditions in high altitudes.
Vietnam in recent years has rapidly been challenging Indonesia’s position as the Tonkin area recovers from decades of stagnation. First planted with arabica trees in the mid-19th century by French missionaries, the small plantations now produce robusta, one of the two main types of plant.
