Coffee

Coffea arabica originated in Ethiopia, where it grows at altitudes of 1,375 to 1,830 metres.

The species name suggests Arabia, but the plant is not native to the Arabian Peninsula.

Coffee belongs to the Rubiaceae, the coffee family, and arabica is an evergreen shrub or small tree that reaches up to 5 metres tall when unpruned.

Arabica is tetraploid, with 44 chromosomes. Robusta coffee is a different species, Coffea canephora.

The fruit is a drupe about 1.5 centimetres long that ripens from green through yellow to crimson, and it takes 7 to 9 months to mature.

Each fruit usually holds two seeds, 8.5 to 12.5 millimetres long, and these seeds are the coffee beans. There are about 2,500 dried seeds in a kilogram.

Trees begin bearing 3 to 4 years after planting and reach full bearing at 6 to 8 years.

Arabica grows from 5 degrees north to 34 degrees south and from sea level to 2,500 metres, with annual rainfall of 800 to 2,500 millimetres.

Arabica cultivation was initiated in fifteenth- to sixteenth-century Yemen.

Arabica was first planted in Java in 1690, and it reached Surinam, Martinique and Jamaica in the early 1700s.

Almost all contemporary arabica cultivars descend from the Typica or Bourbon lineages. With this narrow base and a recent origin, cultivated arabica has particularly low genetic diversity.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates world coffee production at 178.8 million bags of 60 kilograms in 2025/26, about 10.7 million tonnes, and forecasts a record 189.7 million bags for 2026/27.

Of the 2025/26 total, arabica made up 94.4 million bags and robusta 84.4 million bags.

Brazil produced an estimated 63.0 million bags in 2025/26, about 35 percent of the 2025/26 world total. Its 2026/27 harvest is forecast at a record 71.9 million bags.

Vietnam followed with an estimated 31.7 million bags in 2025/26, then Colombia with 12.5 million, Indonesia with 12.4 million and Ethiopia with 11.6 million.

Vietnam is the largest robusta producer, with 30.5 million bags in 2025/26 against 25.0 million for Brazil.

Arabica trees alternate between high-yielding on-years and lower-yielding off-years. In Brazil the on-year crop can rise 5 to 10 million bags and fall by a similar amount the following year.

The caffeine in 12 fluid ounces (about 355 millilitres) of regular brewed, non-specialty coffee ranges from 113 to 247 milligrams.

The same size of black tea holds about 71 milligrams and green tea about 37 milligrams.

Caffeine content varies by product and container size.