The coffee plant grows in the belt between the two Tropics, mainly in three large areas: Central and South America, Central Africa and in the area between India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Papua-New Guinea.
The cultivation of coffee is not homogeneous or universal; the different coffee-producing countries in the world differ in their methods of growing, harvesting and processing.
The main producing countries are: Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, Peru, and Mexico, but in total there are over eighty and each one produces more than one variety of coffee.

The coffee plant is a shrub belonging to the family Rubiaceae, Coffea genus.
Only two species of the Coffea genus have real economic importance: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora or Robusta.
The Robusta plant, which can grow 8-10 metres high, can also be grown at sea level at temperatures between 24 and 26°C.
The Arabica plant, which grows 6-8 metres high, requires a higher altitude and a temperature between 20 and 25°C.
The leaves are elongated, 10-15 cm long and dark green in colour. The white scented flowers are replaced after a few days by the fruit: a berry, called drupe or cherry, that is initially green and becomes red when ripe, ready to be harvested.

The two methods of harvesting are picking and stripping. In the first case the mature red cherries are manually picked. In the second case, the picker (or a machine) literally strips the branch of all the cherries, both the ripe and those that are still unripe. The first part of the processing follows: the external layer (exocarp) covering the mesocarp (a layer of soft pulp) is removed uncovering two seeds (endocarp) wrapped in a parchment (a whitish film) and lying with their flat side against each other.
Coffee beans are approximately 10 millimetres long, oval in shape and have a convex side and a flat side with a deep furrow.
The Arabica bean is flatter and longer than the Robusta bean, the furrow is serpentine and the colour is green. Arabica contains 1.1-1.7% of caffeine. In the cup Arabica is sweet and aromatic.
The Robusta bean is rounder, the furrow is straight and the colour is a greenish brown. Robusta contains more caffeine (2-4.5%) than Arabica. In the cup Robusta is bitterer, at times woody.

The two methods of processing are the wet and dry process. The wet process is applied when the berries have been picked, and entails their washing and selecting in tubs of water. The cherries are then pulped by machine and the selected beans are sieved, washed and dried on cement surfaces or in drying machines.
The oldest is the dry method and is used when stripping has been applied. With this method the cherries are laid out on paved surfaces and turned over regularly to allow the moisture to evaporate and avoid fermentation. The parchment is then hulled.
The beans can be selected by hand, but generally nowadays electronic machines are used to discard defective beans. There are different classification criteria, but the main categories are: by botanical species, by geographical area, by size of the bean, by colour, density and roast.

After their selection, the coffees are packed in sacks or loose in big bags and loaded into containers, ready to start the final stage of their journey to the countries of destination for their final processing.
When the coffee arrives at the roasting plant, samples are taken for further product checks and cup-testing, which defines the main characteristics of the coffee in the cup.
At this point we are ready for roasting, the stage when the beans reach a temperature of 200-240°C in a time span varying from eight to ten minutes. During this phase the coffee undergoes an important change: it loses part of its weight due to the evaporation of the residual moisture present in the green beans and its colour gradually goes from green to dark brown, filling the air with the typical aroma of freshly roasted coffee.
The master roasters closely follow all the delicate phases of roasting to guarantee that every blend maintains the predefined quality standard.

After roasting, the coffee is cooled and sent to silos for storage, during which degassing/maturation takes place, that is, the release of carbon dioxide that has developed during roasting.
The various types of coffee, roasted separately, are then blended according to the proportions defined for each product.
The coffee for coffee bars and restaurants is packed in drums or bags, while the coffee for home use is sent for grinding, a crucial phase in which the volatile vapours and oils present in coffee are released. The ground coffee is then packaged in tins, brick packs, pods or capsules. The coffee is now ready to be dispatched all over the country, through an efficient logistics network, to be relished by the final consumer.