Blossoming
It starts with a flower
Coffee cherries and flowers
The coffee plant, a shrub of the Rubiaceae family, is tropical by nature and requires a hot and humid climate to thrive.
Three to four years after the coffee is planted, rains trigger the blossoming of brilliant white flowers with a sweet jasmine or orange-like fragrance. Dense clusters of flowers grow at the base of dark green, oval leaves, enriching the entire plantation with their perfume.
The coffee flowers are short-lived and wither after a few days, bringing forth the fruit, or cherries, which change color from green to red as they ripen. Arabica cherries take about seven months to reach the optimal stage of ripeness while Robusta cherries average 10 months. The cherry is a drupe (a fruit containing one or more seeds surrounded by a fleshy layer of protective tissue) that usually contains two grooved, semi-oval cherrystones (seeds) lying with their flat faces together—the future green coffee beans. Each bean is surrounded by a silver-colored membrane and enclosed in a tougher skin called the parchment. The small, grooved seeds are the only part used for producing coffee: the future green coffee bean.
The blossoming cycle and maturation of coffee plants is not determined by the seasons; rather, the coffee plant blossoms after each rainfall and therefore a single plant can contain flower blossoms, unripe fruit and ripe fruit all at the same time.