How does coffee grow?

Millions of people start their morning with an aromatic and invigorating cup of coffee, but most of us can't imagine how long it takes a coffee bean to reach our breakfast cup and how coffee grows...

Coffee trees are usually grown from seed and start producing fruit after 3 to 4 years.

After the seedling has matured, it is set out to grow in a permanent location.

The imminent arrival of the fruit is signalled by the appearance of strikingly beautiful white flowers, which only last a few days. They have a sweet jasmine scent.

Depending on the variety, the berries take between 6 and 14 months to ripen, turning deep red and the size of a grape.

Often, all the stages of the coffee berry can be seen at the same time on the same tree.
A healthy coffee tree ripens about 2000 berries a year, which is about 4000 beans - one coffee berry contains two coffee beans.

Only the ripe berries are carefully picked, while the others are allowed to ripen at their own pace, as picking too early or too late affects its quality and flavour.

Did you know that to get 1 kg of ripe coffee beans, you need to grow and harvest 5 kg of berries? And that's roughly how much one Arabica coffee tree yields per year.

After the beans are harvested, the processing is very thorough and very labour-intensive. The fermentation, washing and drying process requires great care. Some over-fermented beans can spoil the quality of the coffee.

There are two types of bean dressing methods.
Wet method - the berries are soaked in water to soften the skin, which is then removed, leaving a sticky film. The berries are placed in tanks to ferment for about 24 hours, after which they are washed again to remove the sticky coating on the beans. The beans are spread out and placed in peeling machines which remove the bean paper skin. Coffee beans processed by the wet method tend to be more expensive. The beans are considered to have a better taste after this treatment.

The beans are then ready for roasting.
Green coffee beans turn brown and acquire flavour and aroma.
Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of around 288 °C. Throughout the process, the beans are stirred to prevent them from burning and damaging the taste and quality of the coffee.
After roasting, the beans are cooled with air or water.

Caffe Corsini has been roasting coffee since 1950 and the roasting processes are based on ancient traditions.

Once the roasting is complete, the coffee is ready for grinding and packaging. Time for a coffee break!