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Rainforest Products - Coffee
Coffee is one of the most valuable products in the world - virtually every country in the world drinks it - and it is grown in tropical regions of the world, primarily in South and Central America, India and Ethiopia.
Legend has it that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goatherd who noticed his flock became unusually lively after eating the red berries of the wild coffee bushes that grew in the forested mountains. By the second century local people were making cakes from the berries, which they ate on long journeys to overcome tiredness. However it was in Arabia that coffee drinking first became popular and spread around the world.
About three quarters of the world's coffee comes from Coffea arabica, with around a quarter from Coffea robusta. The original wild coffee plants from the mountains of Ethiopia are threatened by the destruction of the forests.
 The
coffee tree has white, |
 The berries (or cherries) turn from green to red as they ripen. |
Inside each cherry are two coffee seeds or beans |
Just like chocolate, coffee can be grown in large plantations where the original rainforest has been destroyed, but it is also possible to buy coffee grown organically in the shade of the intact canopy.