The Culture of Growing Coffee

Coffee is grown in more than 50 countries worldwide, with 30 of those countries producing more than 5 million tons of coffee each year.  Many of these countries rely on coffee production for their economic success.  The  top 10 coffee producing countries are (1) Brazil, (2) Vietnam, (3) Colombia, (4) Indonesia, (5) Mexico, (6) India, (7) Ethiopia, (8) Guatemala, (9) Honduras, and (10) Peru.

Americans consume more than 1/3 of the total coffee grown throughout the world.

Hawaii is the only US location that produces coffee.


Although more 60 varieties of coffee grow throughout the world, only two are commercially cultivated: Arabica and Robusta.

Arabica blossom

Did you know that coffee is a fruit that grows on a coffee tree?  


Coffee plants produce delicate white blossoms  that last for approximately a day.  

Arabica"cherry"

By the time this blossom appears, however, that tree has been growing for anywhere from 3 to 5 years.   After  fertilization, these blossoms  become coffee “cherries.”   These cherries are often hand-picked as only the ripest, the reddest cherries are picked at a time, allowing multiple harvesting of the same plant.   


Inside each cherry is the coffee bean – that from which coffee is made.

The ripe coffee cherry is covered with a thick red, yellow, or brown skin that surrounds  the pulp.   The coffee bean is found under this pulp, covered by the parchment, another protective layer. The beans are covered by yet another layer – the silver skin. Harvesting a coffee bean requires that the pulp, parchment, and silver skin be removed. 

 The Sun versus Shade Debate

Coffee originally was grown in the shade of trees,   to protect the leaves from burning, but over the past 30 years, new sun-tolerant coffee varieties have been developed.  USAID and other international developmental agencies have encouraged coffee farmers to convert their  shade grown coffee practices to sun-grown systems.  While sun-grown coffee produces substantially increased yields,  this method of coffee farming requires the use of chemical fertilizers in addition to  insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Coffee trees grown on sun plantations tend to lack tree root structures, often resulting in increased erosion and toxic run-off. 


Because more sun coffee trees can be cultivated per acre as opposed to shade varieties, and each sun-grown coffee tree produces as much as three times the amount of coffee as that of shade-grown coffee trees, coffee farms have started to shift away from shade-grown coffee to sun-grown coffee. Sun-grown farms, however, have been linked to serious environmental side effects. Coffee cherries from sun-grown coffee trees are also smaller than those from shade-grown coffee trees. 


The traditional shade-grown coffee farm resembles a forest. This forest has several layers of trees (including fruit trees and hardwoods), plants that grow in the tops of trees (such as orchids), and  other bushes and plants. Often as many as 40 different species of trees are found in the traditional shade coffee plantation, protecting the coffee plants from the scorching sun, rain, and wind, and reducing the need for weeding and pest control. As in any forest, organic matter builds up, creating a natural mulch layer. This forest also supports a variety of wildlife.  This environment differs greatly from the sun-grown field that resembles a corn field with only one species of plant.

Shade-grown coffee plantation

Sun-grown coffee plantation

Coffee plantations vary from the traditional, very complex forest environment with many varieties of plants to what is called a monoculture - one type of plant only.... and everything between. Traditional mountain-grown shade coffee is a more complex system where coffee plants replace the shrub-like forest plants while maintaining the original forest canopy. In a monoculture, the coffee plants grow in direct sunlight with no tree cover.  This lack of tree cover necessitates high volumes of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, uses of machinery, and an intensive year-round workforce.  Monoculture also creates the largest coffee yield per acre. this use of chemicals and pesticides requires that fields be allowed to lay fallow while shade-grown coffee plantations can produce year after year. 


NEXT: Harvesting the coffee

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