Arabica is a type of coffee tree that grows in tropical climates in Africa and Asia. Uncut Arabica can grow up to six meters in height. On coffee plantations, these trees are pruned to two to three meters for easy harvesting.
Coffee trees
Arabica trees have fleshy dark green leaves, gray bark and fragrant white flowers. Fruits appear on trees at the same time as flowers. The fruits are distinguished by a beautiful purple or red color. They are tied throughout the year, ripening in six to eight months. Thus, flowers, ovaries, and fruits can be present on the tree at the same time, which significantly complicates the machine harvesting of Arabica. Only in Brazil, the fruits ripen at about the same time, this is due to the peculiarities of the climate. In most countries, Arabica is harvested by hand or shaken off on special mats.
Depending on where the trees grow, the caffeine content in beans can vary significantly. Its maximum content is recorded in Arabica beans grown in Colombia. The caffeine content is influenced by the height of the plantation above sea level, the composition of the soil, and the proximity to the equator. For example, coffee from "mountain" Arabica contains half as much caffeine as "valley". It should be noted that these trees are extremely reluctant to grow at an altitude of less than a kilometer above sea level. So in the really low valleys, another type of coffee tree is most often grown, which is known as robusta.
After harvesting, Arabica fruits are processed. Its purpose is to separate the grains from the shells. There are two types of treatment - wet and dry. The choice of method depends on the degree of water availability. Traditionally, the dry method is used to process fruits in Ethiopia and Brazil, in other places where Arabica grows, the wet method is used, since the problem of water supply is not so acute there.
Coffee blends
Arabica is the most common coffee. In fact, seventy-five percent of all coffee consumed is of this variety. Popular blends are made from this coffee, mixing different types and subspecies of Arabica.
Getting unique coffee blends is not an easy process. Most often, when creating coffee blends, varieties with relatively similar properties are used. Sometimes experts can mix beans of the same type of Arabica, but different degrees of roasting. One coffee mixture can contain from two to fourteen components, on average, their number does not exceed eight. There are also mono-varieties of coffee, which contain beans taken from trees of the same species.
