What is Coffee Exactly?
Coffee has a pretty amazing journey on its way to our cups!
Coffee beans come from the fruit of the coffee plant. This plant produces coffee cherries and coffee beans are the seeds inside those cherries.
Once harvested, we roast, grind, and brew them to make the familiar coffee we all know and love to drink!
Each stage of this process needs to be carefully planned to produce the perfect cup of coffee every time.
Where is Coffee Grown?
The Coffee Belt
Most coffee-growing nations sit along the Earth’s equator and within the continents of Africa, Asia, South America, and Central America. Major coffee-growing countries you’re sure to recognize from the front of your coffee jar include Brazil, Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Indonesia.
While on different continents, the thing that each of these countries has in common is that they are all positioned just above or below the equator, between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. This belt of land is known as the “Coffee Belt” or “Bean Belt” – an imaginary band that encompasses all of the major coffee-growing nations.
The Perfect Climate for Growing Coffee
Of course, it’s no coincidence that the world’s major coffee producers are all located along the equator. It’s the climate here that makes growing coffee possible. Equatorial regions are great for growing coffee plants thanks to their tropical climate, but it’s not just the weather that seals the deal when it comes to good coffee.
Here are some of the key climate characteristics that help to produce the tastiest coffee beans:
Continuous rainfall all
- Rainfall ☔
ows the beans to grow at a slow and steady pace. Allowing coffee beans to mature at a relaxed rate makes for a more concentrated and potent flavor.
Coffee is also planted in the wet season as the wet ground is easier to dig and helps the roots to spread out.
- Hot Days and Cool Nights ☀️
Moderately sunny days and year-round temperatures between 21° and 29°C are ideal for coffee plants. Like all plants, they need sunlight to grow and the warm temperatures help coffee cherries to ripen.
Coffee grown in tropical mountainous regions benefits from hot days and cool nights. This temperature difference has been shown to ‘shock’ the natural acids, aromatics, and sugars in coffee beans to produce a more intense flavor.
- Humidity 💧
Water vapor in the air helps to accelerate photosynthesis, the process by which coffee plants (and most plants) get the energy they need to grow.
The high humidity in tropical climates helps to produce larger coffee cherries that are deeper in color and flavor.
- Elevation ⛰️
In the world of coffee the higher the altitude the better the coffee beans!
Cooler temperatures in mountainous areas encourage coffee plants to grow slowly and devote more time to producing fruit (the beans) rather than just surviving. This increases the natural sugars in the fruit and intensifies their flavor.
Higher altitudes also benefit from better drainage, reducing coffee cherries' water content for a more concentrated flavor.
- Soil Quality 🌱
Soil rich in nutrients is essential to grow a healthy coffee plant. Mountainous areas often have volcanic soil, a rich source of beneficial minerals.
They also have a great pH level for coffee growing (between 4.9 and 5.6), which is slightly acidic and compliments the natural acidity of the coffee beans.
All of these factors influence the taste and characteristics of the coffee beans, so much so that coffee plants grown just a few meters apart could have completely different flavor profiles. Coffee is often compared with wine for this reason because the end product is so impacted by the land on which it is grown.
Where Our Coffee Comes From
Our instant Mushroom Coffee blend is made using 100% Arabica coffee. Comes from “blue tokai”, the Arabica species of the coffee plant that is the most popular in the world, thriving at high altitudes for a distinct aromatic flavor.
Mushroom Coffee Instant Arabica Coffee
We use single-origin Organic Instant Arabica Coffee in our Mushroom Coffee. It comes from Blue Tokai, where it is grown within India’ – given this name because it consists of three major coffee-growing regions that produce the vast majority of Indian coffee.
Our Organic Arabica Coffee is grown at high altitudes and harvested from small family farms before we blend it with our mushroom extracts and Maca Root. It has an amazing aroma and flavor!
Choosing a premium coffee that has been grown in the ideal climate is so important to us and we hope that this is reflected in the amazing flavor of our Mushroom Coffees.
Elevate your coffee routine today with the power of potent functional mushrooms and nature's finest superfoods.