Science with Mandy

You’ve certainly heard of coffee. You may even be an avid coffee drinker. Rumor (and science, specifically a study published in 2016) has it that a majority – 75% –  of the US population drinks coffee, with about 49% drinking it at least once per day, and these numbers seem to be trending upwards (1,2).

So how is coffee made? I’m not talking about the coffee pot, Keurig, espresso machine, or anything like that; where do the beans come from? Coffee – technically a seed – grows on a coffee plant, which grows in an area of the world called the “coffee belt” or “bean belt,” a path of ideal growing conditions that follows the equator around the globe. The specific location determines a lot of features of the beans, including their flavor, which is affected by things like soil composition, climate, and other factors (3,4).

Source: https://u.osu.edu/ryanrichardscoffeecommoditychain/sample-page/

Once coffee beans are planted, it takes several years for fruit (cherries containing coffee beans within them) to grow, after which the fruit is picked and the beans are thus harvested. The beans undergo drying and processing steps, and the resulting dried beans are ready for roasting!

Coffee roasting is an entire other process that beans must undergo to become the coffee we know and love. Roasting heats the beans up to about 200 degrees Celsius, with interesting chemical reactions occurring along the way to produce the oils and aromas that many coffee drinkers are familiar with (6,7). Roasted beans are then ground, and the coffee is prepared by one of the machines described above, like an espresso machine or a coffee pot. And the coffee is ready to drink!

Do you want to learn more about this popular beverage? Check out some of the links below!

Works Cited

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4997286/
2. https://www.ncausa.org/newsroom/nca-releases-atlas-of-american-coffee
3. https://www.starbucksathome.com/mena/en-ae/story/where-does-coffee-come
4. https://www.peets.com/blogs/peets/the-geography-of-coffee
5. https://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/10-Steps-from-Seed-to-Cup#:~:text=Whether%20by%20hand%20or%20by,are%20picked%20individually%20by%20hand.
6. https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/pressroom/reactions/infographics/why-does-your-coffee-taste-and-smell-delicious.pdf