by Denise Calaman

Created on: August 08, 2008   Last Updated: October 22, 2010

Coffee is enjoyed all over the world and is more popular today than ever before.  It is the world's second most traded commodity.  Only petroleum tops coffee in dollars traded. Coffee plants are grown on coffee plantations, high in the mountains of warm tropical climates around the world. But just how does the coffee that is freshly brewed in your house every morning end up there? It is a longer journey and a more difficult process than you might think.

Coffee has been enjoyed the world over for centuries. The coffee plant is thought to have been first discovered by a native tribe in Eastern Africa around 1000 AD and first enjoyed as a beverage by the Turks in the 15th century. Today, most coffee is grown between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where temperatures are the warmest and the climate is humid. The coffee plant is tender and cannot thrive in a harsh environment. The slightest change in environmental conditions during an active growing season could change the flavor of the coffee due to be harvested.

There are two types of coffee grown commercially, Arabica and Canephora, more commonly known as Robusta. Arabica plants are less disease resistant and not as hardy as Robusta so they are grown at higher elevations, normally above 2,000 feet where frost is rare. Arabica plants produce only one half as many beans as Robusta but the beans are of higher quality, better taste and contain less caffeine. Arabica plants are planted in rich mountain soil. This allows them to grow slowly, enhancing the flavor of the beans. Arabica beans are purchased for more expensive commercial blends and by fine restaurants and coffee houses.

Robusta plants are hardier than arabica plants and can be grown at lower elevations starting at sea level. Robusta plants yield twice as many beans but they are of a lesser quality. Robusta beans are often blended with Arabica beans by commercial coffee companies to make canned or instant coffee.

The country of Brazil exports 33% of the world's coffee annually. Columbia exports about two thirds of the amount of Arabica coffee as Brazil. Vietnam produces more Robusta coffee than any other nation. Coffee is one of the few crops that third world farmers can produce and export that offers them profitability.

Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows and exports coffee and it is famous for producing a very well known type of Arabica coffee called Kona coffee. Kona coffee is grown in the Kona districts of the big

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