Morphological characteristics of Coffee Tree Botanical History

There are many legends about the discovery of coffee. One legend is that in the 13th century, a prince in Ethiopia discovered that his camels loved to eat small berries on a bush, and after eating them, he was so excited and energetic that he picked some small berries himself.

coffee trees

Coffee trees (11 photos)

Tasting it, I finally found this refreshing coffee drink. Another legend says that one day in 500 BC, an Ethiopian shepherd herded his sheep in a strange place. On a small hill, the sheep ate a small red fruit on a small tree. After returning in the evening, the sheep were abnormal in the fence. They were not as peaceful and docile as usual, but excited, restless, tearing and chirping, and even jumping all night long. The owner thought that the sheep had eaten some grass poisoning. He got up several times and lit up the lamp to look closely, but he saw that the sheep were energetic and lively, unlike the appearance of poisoning pain. The next morning, the shepherd prepared to drive the sheep to another place to graze. After opening the fence, the sheep desperately ran to the hill with small red fruits. The shepherd did not help how to whip and stop them. When the shepherd was exhausted, he had to follow the sheep to the hill. Shepherd see each sheep scramble to eat small red fruit, feel very strange, then picked some small red fruit repeatedly chewing taste, found this small red fruit sweet with some bitterness. After grazing, the shepherd felt extremely excited and could not sleep all night. He even wanted to follow the sheep.

Coffee trees bloom.

Coffee trees bloom.

Dance, dance, dance, dance. The magical effect of small red fruits soon spread, Ethiopian shepherds picked small red fruits everywhere to chew, and took them to the market for sale. Later, this small red fruit developed into the most popular coffee drink in the world today.

Coffee fruit contains two seeds, namely coffee beans. The two beans stand upright facing each other on one side of their plane. Each coffee bean has a thin outer membrane, called the silver skin, which is covered with a yellow outer skin, called the endocarp. The whole bean is encapsulated in a viscous pulp, forming a soft, sweet pulp with an outer shell. [1]

In fact, Arabs began growing coffee in 525 BC, and chewing roasted coffee beans became popular in Arabia. In 890 AD, Arab merchants sold coffee beans to Yemen, and Yemen made coffee beans into a beverage for the first time. In the 15th century, coffee was introduced into Europe, Asia, and soon into America. By the 18th century, coffee was widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions of the world and became one of the three major beverages in the world. Coffee ranks first among the top three beverages in annual sales, three times that of cocoa and four times that of tea. Coffee has been cultivated for more than 2000 years. However, coffee cultivation in China has only a few hundred years of experience. In 1884, coffee was introduced into Taiwan Province. At the beginning of the 20th century, overseas Chinese brought coffee from Malaysia and planted it in Hainan Province. Later, the southern tropical and subtropical provinces began to plant coffee one after another. Although the cultivation time is relatively short, the coffee in Hainan Province and Yunnan Province of our country has superior quality and unique charm, and enjoys high reputation in the world. After some foreign businessmen buy it at a low price, it becomes a world-class beverage with expensive value after processing and selling it to the international market. The most prominent one is the small coffee planted in Yunnan Province. Because the temperature difference between day and night in Yunnan is large, it is conducive to the accumulation of its contents. Therefore, it tastes strong but not bitter, fragrant but not strong, rich in oil and fruity. Therefore, it has been praised by coffee merchants at home and abroad as "the best quality coffee in the world."