Occurrence and Botany

Around 80 coffee plant varieties are known. For the production of coffee, however, only two varieties are cultivated in practice Cojfea arabica (Arabian coffee) and Cojfea canephora (robusta coffee), in Java and Sumatra, in India, in the Arabian Peninsula and in a few African and South American coimtries. Arabica coffee grows in regions at an elevation of600-1,800 metres above sea level, from where some coffee variants are ranked among the best in the world. The share of arabica coffee in the world market amounts to 70-75 %. Robusta coffee grows already at an elevation of 300-600 metres. It is more resistant to lower temperatures and diseases. 

Coffee plants are trees or bushes with white blossoms (Fig. 5.192) and cherry-like fruits (Fig. 5.193). Each fruit contains one or two coffee beans. The 

192 Coffee blossom of Coffea arabica at a plantation in Brazil. 

193 Coffee cherries ripening on a Coffea arabica tree. 

Caffeine is also found in tea leaves from Camellia sinensis (up to 5 %) and in the seeds of cola nuts (Cola nitida, up to 2 %). Mat6 (Paraguay tea. Ilex para-guariensis, with 0.3-1.5%) and the seeds of the cocoa plant (Theobroma cacao, with 0.05%) show a significantly lower content. The main alkaloid in cocoa beans is theobromine. 

---