Like many other fruits, coffee cherries grow on trees. The soil, climate, altitude, and surrounding plants that a coffee tree is exposed to during growth affect the flavor of the beans it produces.

Some coffee trees have the potential to grow to a height of 30 to 40 feet. However, most are kept much shorter for ease of harvest. The average coffee tree bears only enough cherries each season to produce about half a kilogram of roasted coffee. It takes a whole year for the tree to produce what most people can enjoy in a single week!

At harvest time, coffee trees are laden with bright red coffee cherries. An unroasted coffee bean is simply the pit of the coffee cherry.

The skin of the coffee cherry is very thick, with a slightly bitter flavor. The fruit beneath the skin, however, is intensely sweet with a texture similar to grape. Beneath the fruit is the parchment, which serves as a protective pocket for the seed, much like the small pockets that protect the seeds of an apple. Remove the parchment and you’ll generally find two green coffee beans, ready for washing and roasting.