"I'll take 15 instant coffee trees please"

Berries from Coffea canephora (Robusta coffee)

If you drink two cups of coffee a day, then somewhere in the world there are 15 coffee trees growing just to supply your annual fix! Ok, so that you learned last month in my blog about the Arabica coffee tree. Coffee from the the Robusta coffee tree  is often considered lower quality than coffee from other species and so is used primarily in cheaper blends and in instant coffee. The upside of robusta coffee is that it has twice the caffeine of Arabica used in higher quality coffee! So you get more pop for the buck!

"I'll take 15 coffee trees please."

Coffea arabica trees in bloom

If you drink two cups of coffee a day, then somewhere in the world there are 15 coffee trees growing just to supply your annual fix! The Arabica coffee tree originated in Ethiopia, but was spread throughout east Africa and the Arabian peninsula. Its now cultivated all over the world as Arabian coffee is often considered higher quality than coffee from other species of the tree. An old Ethiopian legend has it that coffee was discovered after the locals noticed that goats tended to mount each other rather vigorously after eating the leaves and fruits of the coffee tree!