If you’ve ever wondered, “are coffee beans considered a fruit?” then you’re in luck. In this article we’re going to take a look at exactly what coffee beans are and where they come from.
Are coffee beans considered a fruit?
A coffee bean is actually the seed, or pit of the fruit from the Coffea Plant. So while what we call the coffee bean isn’t the fruit itself, it is a part of the fruit.
Do coffee beans grow on trees or plants?
As mentioned above, the fruit that contains coffee beans is the Coffea Plant. So while it is in fact called a plant in most cases, these plants can grow to well over 20 feet tall in some cases. That’s as high as a 2 story building, so some might call that a coffee tree.
In most cases the Coffea Plant is closer to 8-10 feet tall, but they have woody branches and roots which is indicative of a tree. Whatever you want to classify them as, coffee trees are also very bushy. The plant that produces coffee beans is most commonly referred to as a plant, though it does have some characteristics of both a tree and a bush.
How much coffee does a coffee tree produce?
If you are a home grower, then you can expect your coffee plant to yield about a pound of unroasted coffee beans each year. Coffee beans lose about 20% of their weight when they are roasted, so that would leave you with about .8 lbs of roasted coffee beans per year per plant.
However, if we are talking about a large coffee plantation then the yields would be a bit larger because the plants grow much larger. In this case, a mature coffee plant can produce up to 2 lbs of roasted coffee each year.
This would equate to up to 10 lbs of cherries per plant per year, with a 1 to 5 ratio of roasted bean weight to unpicked coffea plant cherry weight. So the roasted beans weight about a fifth of the freshly picked cherries.
How many years can a coffee tree yield fruit for?
It takes about 4-5 years before a coffee plant will begin bearing fruit. Once they being producing cherries, they are most productive until they are about 20 years old, even though Coffea Plants can live up to 100 years old.
Where do coffee plants grow?
Coffee plants thrive in warm tropical climates. Though there are 2 states in the U.S. that produce coffee, Hawaii and California, the majority of coffee comes from what is known as the “bean belt”. The bean belt is a region between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where the majority of coffee is produced. This region has the perfect climate for coffee to grow.
Some of the main countries in the bean belt that produce the most coffee are:
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Columbia
- Mexico
- Brazil
- Java
- Sumatra
- New Guinea
- Thailand
- Indonesia
- Vietnam
- Ethiopia
- Kenya
- Australia
What country does most coffee come from?
As mentioned, coffee is a major export for many different countries most of which are located int he bean belt. However, the following 5 countries are the top producing countries in the world when it comes to coffee.
The top 5 coffee producing countries in the world are:
- Brazil
- Vietnam
- Columbia
- Indonesia
- Ethiopia
Conclusion
When it comes to the question of whether or not coffee is a fruit or not, I hope I’ve answer that question for you. To reiterate though, coffee is made from a fruit that grows on a plant, that is also called a tree or a bush. A bit confusing I know. Just remember though, a coffee bean is like the pit of a cherry. So in that respect it is partially a fruit, it just undergoes more than one transformation before it actually makes it into our cup and we can drink it!
