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The coffee tree (or shrub), Coffea arabica, originally
grew wild in Ethiopia. Now it's cultivated in Java, Sumatra, India,
Arabia, equatorial Africa, Hawaii, Mexico, Central and south America,
and the West Indies.
Coffee was first a food, then a wine, then a medicine, and then
about 800 years ago, it became a beverage.
Left unpruned, it will reach a height of 14 to 20 feet. Its beautiful
glossy green leaves, white flowers, and it's ripened red berries
makes it one of nature's elegant beauties. One tree produces enough
berries for around 1 1/2 pounds of ground coffee.
Coffee trees are around five years old before they will produce
a full crop of berries. Most begin as seedlings carefully tended,
and then transplanted to specially prepared fields.
Brewing a cup of great tasting coffee requires one standard coffee
measure per cup or two level tablespoons per cup.
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