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A coffee tree. Legends, myths, symbolism, description, cultivation, methods of application

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Content

1. Photos, basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism
2. Basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism
3. Botanical description, reference data, useful information, illustrations
4. Recipes for use in traditional medicine and cosmetology
5. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing

Coffee tree, Coffea. Photos of the plant, basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism

Basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism

Sort by: Coffea (Coffee)

Family: Rubiaceae (Rubiaceae)

Origin: Africa, and some species in Southeast Asia and Madagascar

Area: The coffee tree is cultivated in many countries including Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kenya.

Chemical composition: Caffeine, theobromine, theophylline, phenyl compounds, polysaccharides, fatty oils, amino acids and more.

Economic value: The coffee tree is grown to produce coffee beans that are used to make coffee. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and is widely used in the food industry. In addition, some types of coffee tree are also used in medicine and cosmetics.

Legends, myths, symbolism: According to legend, the coffee tree was discovered in Ethiopia in the 9th century AD. a shepherd named Kaldi, who noticed that his goats become more active and lively after grazing in fields where coffee trees grow. Caldi decided to try the berries of the tree and noticed that they have an invigorating effect on a person. In addition, the coffee tree is considered a symbol of cheerfulness, energy and productivity, and in some cultures it is used as an amulet to bring good luck and prosperity. In general, the coffee tree is an important plant that plays a significant role in the culture and economy of many countries, and symbolizes energy and productivity.

Coffee tree, Coffea. Description, illustrations of the plant

One of the legends tells how the archangel Gabriel brought a vessel with a dark elixir to the dying prophet Mohammed. Thanks to the divine power of the drink, Mohammed recovered, knocked out 40 knights from the saddle and went on to create the most powerful Islamic empire of all time.

Muslims believe that the archangel, worried that sleep might prevent the prophet from achieving his goals, appeared in order to reveal to Mohammed the virtues and the method of making a drink from coffee.

Another Ethiopian legend says that Sheikh Omar, known as one of the most talented doctors of his time, was the first to discover the properties of coffee berries. Once, wandering through the hills, Sheikh Omar noticed a small tree with fragrant flowers and red berries.

The healer wanted to explore the properties of this plant, and this was coffee. He prepared a decoction of the seeds of the coffee tree and took it for several days. He soon noticed that his working capacity increased and his mood improved. Then he decided to add an infusion of coffee beans to healing tinctures for headaches and indigestion and noticed that their effectiveness increased markedly. He managed to cure even patients whom other healers declared hopeless.

For a long time, the healer did not reveal the secret of the coffee tree to anyone, and only before his death passed it on to his son.

According to another legend, the Ethiopian shepherd Kaldi once noticed that the animals he pastured on the mountain slopes, having tasted the leaves and fruits of one wild plant, became very frisky and vigorous for a long time. Kaldi himself decided to try the berries of this tree (it was coffee), reminiscent of cherries, and felt an unusual surge of vigor and strength that he could do without sleep for almost three days.

Whether this was actually the case, no one knows. Maybe the shepherd just brewed coffee compote and discovered the miraculous properties of the coffee berry. Coffee roasting began later.

It is only known that already six centuries ago, in the monasteries of Yemen and Ethiopia, the monks prepared a decoction of coffee, which drove away sleep during night services. They called this drink "kava" - in honor of the Persian ruler Kavus Kai, who supposedly ascended to heaven on a winged chariot.

Author: Martyanova L.M.

Arabian coffee tree, Coffea arabica L. Botanical description, history of origin, nutritional value, cultivation, use in cooking, medicine, industry

An evergreen tree up to 7 m high, with horizontally arranged branches in pairs. The leaves are entire, petiolate, opposite, oblong, shiny, dark green. The flowers are fragrant, white, collected in a brush, located in the axils of the leaves. The fruit is a bright red, black or dark blue berry. In the pulp of the fruit there are two seeds enclosed in a parchment shell - light gray coffee beans. Blooms all year round.

The homeland of the coffee tree is Africa, where even now it grows wild. There are large plantations of the coffee tree in Cuba and in the countries of South America, especially in Brazil.

There are several varieties of coffee tree. The most valuable coffee, known as Arabica, comes from the Arabian coffee tree. Cultivation of a coffee tree is extremely difficult: the plantation has to be monitored all year round. The quality of coffee depends on many factors: climatic conditions, soil, lack or excess of fertilizers in the soil, the method of harvesting and processing the crop. Propagated by seeds and vegetatively. Trees begin to bear fruit from the age of three. They live for a long time, up to 200 years. The fruits are harvested as they ripen, almost throughout the year.

To extract the seeds, the collected fruits are subjected to dry or wet processing: they are dried in the sun, then the fragile pericarp is removed (dry method) or passed through special machines where the pulp is washed off in a stream of water (wet method). In this form, coffee beans are stored for several years, while their quality is significantly improved. For example, the mocha variety goes on sale after three years of storage, and some varieties of Brazilian coffee - after ten to twelve years.

Raw coffee beans contain sugars, organic acids, fatty oils and proteins, as well as amino acids, coffee tannic acid, fiber, tannins and minerals, and the alkaloid caffeine. But they do not drink coffee in its raw form: it has no aroma, the drink from it is unpleasant, with an astringent taste. Coffee beans acquire specific taste and aroma only after roasting, during which some substances contained in them are broken down, while others, new ones, are synthesized.

As a result of changes in the chemical composition of grains, taste qualities are improved. Coffee acquires its characteristic aroma due to the so-called caffeol, which is formed during the incomplete oxidation of volatile substances. In the grains, the content of water, sugars and coffee-tannic acid decreases, and the content of nitrogenous substances and fatty oil slightly increases. The sugar caramelizes to form carameline, which turns the coffee drink dark brown.

In roasted coffee, a small amount of caffeine alkaloid, acetic acid, phenolic and other compounds was found, as well as a lot of vitamin PP, which is found in coffee in a free state and easily passes into a drink. One cup of coffee contains about a third of the daily dose of vitamin PP needed by an adult.

Coffee should be stored in tightly closed jars. Since ground coffee gradually loses its specific aroma and taste, it is recommended to grind it immediately before drinking. In addition to coffee beans, ground coffee is also on sale, as well as the so-called instant coffee, which has become widespread. The latter differs in taste and aroma from ground coffee, but has the same physiological properties, since it retains caffeine. Caffeine and aromatic substances are highly soluble in water and evenly distributed in the drink. However, the method of preparation of a coffee drink affects not only its taste, but also the preservation of aromatic substances. There are many ways to prepare coffee, but one general rule must be followed: do not boil it. Even the beginning of the boil, which is characterized by the release of bubbles, already leads to a loss of aroma.

The physiological effect of coffee on the body is explained, first of all, by the content of the alkaloid caffeine, which is not destroyed when the beans are roasted. Under the influence of caffeine, breathing quickens and deepens, blood pressure rises, the vessels of the brain, heart and kidneys expand, urination increases and the secretion of gastric juice increases. The appointment of strong coffee as an excellent tonic in case of loss of strength has become especially firmly established in medical practice. Under the influence of coffee, a feeling of cheerfulness appears, mental fatigue and drowsiness disappear, memory and working capacity are activated.

Beneficial effect of coffee in case of poisoning. In these cases, after washing the stomach, it is recommended to give the victim one or two cups of coffee, the tannins of which have a positive effect on the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, bind and precipitate toxic substances; while caffeine has a tonic effect on a weakened heart muscle. In diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, coffee is used as a remedy: the tannins contained in it contribute to the cessation of diarrhea, improve digestion. The therapeutic effect is exerted not only by a hot drink, but also by jelly, mousse, jelly prepared on its basis. However, coffee should be used for treatment only on the advice of a doctor. Excessively large doses of caffeine are harmful to health. Coffee has the ability to reduce the feeling of hunger and thereby, as it were, limit the need for food. Therefore, it is "especially useful for obese people.

Coffee is a nutritious dessert drink; often it is consumed with milk, cream, lemon, ice cream. In some countries, coffee with chicory is preferred to pure coffee. Coffee is added to soft drinks, cream cake. In places where the coffee tree grows, various drinks are made from the pulp of its fruits, and tea is brewed from the leaves.

Waste from the processing of the coffee plant is used as fertilizer, as it is very rich in calcium and phosphorus.

Authors: Kretsu L.G., Domashenko L.G., Sokolov M.D.

Coffee, Coffee. Methods of application, origin of the plant, range, botanical description, cultivation

Arabian coffee

Coffee is a widespread income crop throughout the tropical zone. It is the second largest source of foreign exchange for developing countries after oil and oil products.

Coffee is the main source of thousands of large and millions of farms in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. The economy of many countries is heavily dependent on coffee exports. In Colombia, the annual income from coffee is more than 80% of the total value of agricultural exports, in El Salvador and Uganda - about 60%, in Brazil, Guatemala and Côte d'Ivoire - 55-60%, in Kenya, Ethiopia and Madagascar - about 35%. %.

The birthplace of coffee is in Africa, but the main plantations are located in Latin America.

The origin of coffee culture is connected with Ethiopia, Yemen. Arabian coffee in the wild was found by the botanist Roth in 1843 in southern Ethiopia (the provinces of Kaffa and Illubabor), in river valleys at an altitude of 1600-2000 m above sea level. seas. In Ethiopia, the stimulating properties of coffee have long been discovered. The shepherds watched as the goats and sheep stayed up all night eating fallen coffee beans. For the first time coffee is cultivated in Yemen.

Coffee as a stimulating refreshing drink began to be used in Arabia around the middle of the XNUMXth century. In Africa and the Middle East, the drink was used quite little. In Ethiopia, dry coffee beans have been used as chewing gum since time immemorial. However, for a long time in Yemen they still did not drink coffee, as they observed the ban on it imposed by the church.

The first drink made from coffee appears to have been alcoholic, as it was obtained after fermenting the sweet pulp of the fruit. Even now in Arabia they make a drink from dried coffee pulp. In Indonesia and Malaysia, an infusion was prepared from dried leaves. One of the modern tonic drinks is a foamy coffee drink with Coca-Cola. Fruit pulp and seed coats are used as fertilizer and mulch and are sometimes fed to livestock in India. Coffelite is a plastic material obtained from coffee beans.

At the beginning of the XVIII century. coffee culture from Arabia began to penetrate into other tropical countries. In 1696, the Dutch organized the first colonial plantations on about. Ceylon, but a few decades later they were destroyed by the fungal parasite rust and replaced with tea plantations. In 1718 the Dutch brought the coffee tree to Suriname. In 1727, the first coffee plantations in Brazil were planted, but until the XNUMXth century. they occupied small areas.

The genus Coffea L. belongs to the Rubiaceae family. Scientists describe from 25 to 100 types of coffee. Their number, apparently, is about 60, of which 33 species were found in Africa, 14 in Madagascar, 3 in Mauritius and Reunion, and 10 species in the tropics of Southeast Asia. Plants of all species of the genus are very diverse - from perennial woody to bushy and treelike, from deciduous to evergreen, most of them contain caffeine in seeds and leaves.

The area under coffee tree plantations is constantly increasing. According to the FAO, in 1988 they amounted to 11,3 million hectares. The largest plantations are located in Brazil (2,9 million ha), Côte d'Ivoire (1,2 million ha), Colombia (1,0 million ha) and Indonesia (638 thousand ha).

The world center of coffee culture, its second home is Brazil and Colombia, where 3,9 million hectares of plantations are located, or 34,8% of the world area. The leading coffee producing countries are: Brazil (1,3 million tons), Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire. The average world yield of coffee varies from year to year within 473-559 kg/ha, in Brazil - 402-766 kg/ha.

Leading exporting countries: Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda.

Arabian coffee, or Arabic (Coffea agabica L). The fruits and leaves of plants contain caffeine. In seeds, depending on the variety - 0,65-2,70% caffeine. Scientists at Harvard University (USA) found that caffeine is a natural insecticide that rids the plant of harmful insects. It has been proven that the addition of caffeine to chemical insecticides several times enhances the effect of drugs.

The species is very polymorphic, which is not surprising given the vast area of ​​cultivation. There are 2 main botanical varieties: Arabian and Bourbon.

Arabian variety (Coffea arabica var. arabica L.) was described by Linnaeus in 1753 and, according to the International Rules for Botanical Classification, was named var. arabica. Differs in fast growth, forms a tall tree if it is not pruned. The fruit-bearing branches of the 1st order of branching are thin, grow in a horizontal or almost horizontal direction, their ends sometimes bend down. The leaves are narrow, young, with a bronze sheen. The bulk of the world's coffee production is from this variety.

Bourbon variety - Coffea arabica L. var. bourbon (B. Rodr.) Choussy - brought by the French to about. Reunion. Relatively thin wood if not pruned. Fruiting branches of the 1st order of branching are rigid, angular, but can break under the weight of the fruit crop. The leaves are wide, the tips of young leaves are green in color. Under favorable growing conditions, Bourbon is more productive than Arabian. This variety initially supplanted the Arabian on the main plantations in Brazil, but subsequently, when laying new plantations, the Mundo Novo variety, which is a natural hybrid between two varieties of Arabian coffee, prevailed.

Congolese coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre). The seeds of plants contain, depending on the variety, 2,0-2,5% of caffeine. It has a strong coffee smell. One of the forms of Congolese coffee is the tree-like form of Robusta (Robusta), or Canephora (Canephora), which is characterized by strong vertical growth. Unpruned seedlings grow into small trees.

Another form is the bushy form Nganda. Plants have a sprawling habit, form bushes in the form of a dome, the leaves are smaller than those of Robusta.

A drink made from Congolese coffee is inferior in quality to a drink made from Arabian coffee, as it is not as tasty and aromatic. However, Congolese coffee is more productive and cheaper to produce, besides it is resistant to rust. The scale of its production is constantly growing, especially after the production of instant coffee (Nesscafee) was established, Congolese coffee turned out to be the best for this purpose. In addition, it makes good blends with Arabian coffees. Long before the discovery of Congolese coffee by European scientists, it was grown in Uganda and the fruits were used as chewing gum. They were lightly boiled in boiling water, then dried.

It grows wild in equatorial forests and savannas of the river basin. Congo up to 1300-1500 m a.s.l. seas, mainly near the equator, between 10 °C. sh. and 10°S sh. After 1900, the Congo coffee tree spread widely throughout the tropical zone, where it grows well on the lower parts of the slopes, unsuitable for Arabian coffee due to rust. It is now the most important species in the tropical countries of Asia and Africa, but is cultivated on a limited scale in Latin America.

Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica Bull.). Plant seeds contain 1,4-1,6% caffeine. The quality of the drink is mediocre, therefore it is used as a filler in mixtures with other types of coffee. It is highly valued in Malaysia and in several countries in Southeast Asia, where it has the best taste. Originated from lowland areas near Monrovia in Liberia. Cultivated in the tropical zone, in Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Malaysia, Suriname, Guyana, the Philippines. A small amount of Liberian coffee is exported mainly to the Scandinavian countries.

Arabian coffee, or Arabic (Coffea agabica). Arabian coffee is a shrub or small tree, usually reaching a height of 5 m and in some cases 8-10 m if not pruned; evergreen, hairless, long-lived. For example, in South India, on the slopes of the Western Ghats, near the city of Balekhonnur, at an altitude of over 1000 m above sea level. seas, hundreds of trees approaching or exceeding 100 years old are cultivated on commercial plantations.

The taproot main root is short and strong, rarely grows in length more than 45 cm; roots of the 1st branching order depart from it, they go vertically into the depth of the soil up to 2-3 m or more. However, many roots of the 1st order of branching grow from the tap root in a horizontal direction up to 2-3 m in length in the surface soil layer (0-30 cm). The roots of the 1st order branch out, forming the roots of the 2nd, 3rd orders of branching, etc. in the entire root-inhabited soil layer. Overgrown coffee roots do not have root hairs. Plants with such roots usually have a mycotrophic type of absorption of water and nutrients. It is carried out in soil with a high content of organic matter. The best branching and root development are observed in the surface layer, if the soils are cold and have excess moisture, or in the deep layers, if the soils are dry and warm. The roots penetrate the soil to the groundwater level.

Branches are vertical and horizontal. They grow from two serial buds placed one above the other, in each leaf axil of a central vertical stem. From the upper kidney in the axil of the leaf, called the additional or extra-axillary, grows the lateral, or main, branch of the 1st branching order. The main branches grow horizontally or at an oblique angle to the horizon, located oppositely, in 2 directions from each node. The lower axillary bud usually remains dormant and does not sprout until the main stem is damaged or removed. Under certain stressful conditions, such as, for example, at high air temperatures, the formation of vertical shoots can occur as if spontaneously, and the plant takes the form of a shrub.

Secondary vertical stems develop in the same pattern as the central vertical stem. After cutting or shortening it on the plant, you can get several vertical stems. The formation of vegetative vertical stems can be induced by bending or tilting the main stem. In this case, vertical shoots grow from each node, which are used as material for vegetative propagation of coffee. This method is also used to breed multi-barrel formations, Guatemalan and agobiado.

In the axils of the leaves on the main (lateral or fruit) branches there are a series of 6 buds located one above the other. The upper bud is farthest from the base of the leaf petiole, it is formed first, therefore it has the greatest age, is the largest of all others in the series. The sixth bud is located closest to the base of the leaf petiole, it is the youngest and less developed than other buds in the series. Depending on the conditions, all or any of these buds can give rise to an inflorescence or a horizontal lateral vegetative shoot (2nd branching order).

Under favorable conditions conducive to flowering, usually the first 3-4 buds develop into inflorescences. All axillary buds give rise to vegetative shoots if a branch is removed above their location. Sometimes, if pruning is not carried out, vegetative shoots of the 2nd branching order are formed from the first axillary and apical bud of the branch, and the next 2-3 buds give rise to inflorescences. The good development of these shoots, which form a fan of branches, results from the cultivation of coffee at high altitudes, in a cold place, as well as with a lack of boron in mineral nutrition or when plants are damaged by antestiopsis.

The main branches are usually overgrown with fruit branches of the 2nd and 3rd branching orders, but they rarely give rise to vertical, fatty shoots. Pruning shoots or branches of various branching orders control the thickening of the tree crown and the crop load.

The Arabian coffee tree begins to bloom, entering the fruiting period at the age of 3-4 years. Inflorescences may form from any or all of the axillary buds of horizontal branches, but they usually appear only from the first 3-4 buds. Each inflorescence consists of 4 flowers, but not all of them can start. The flowers are white, fragrant, in axillary clusters from 2 to 20 in each axil, regular, bisexual, placed on the branches of the 1st and 2nd branching orders.

Flower buds differentiate and remain dormant until precipitation occurs, which stimulates their awakening and blooming. A sudden increase in water content in the flower buds due to rainfall or moisture causes the corolla to increase, the flowers open almost simultaneously, 8-12 days after moisture.

Flowering in areas without pronounced dry and wet seasons is remontant, in areas with pronounced seasons - flushes. The flowers open on sunny days in the early morning, after 2 days of flowering they begin to wither, and after a few days all parts of the flower, with the exception of the ovary, fall off. Under unfavorable conditions, in particular at high temperatures, abnormal star flowers are formed.

Flowers are self-pollinating, pollination occurs with the help of insects (mainly bees) and wind. The pollen is dispersed immediately after the opening of the flowers, and the stigmas are receptive at the same time. On cloudy days, fully developed buds may remain closed, in which case the pollen is distributed inside the bud. The diploid species of Arabian coffee are self-sterile.

Fruit ripening under optimal conditions occurs 8 months after flowering, and at the borders of the cultivation zone - after 9 months. The fruit is a berry, oval-elliptical or almost spherical, about 1,5 cm long when ripe, two-seeded; unripe fruits are green, beginning to ripen - yellow, ripened - red, in the xanthocarpa mutant - yellow. The fruit has a strong outer skin, or exocarp, beneath which is a juicy yellowish pulp, or mesocarp; the seeds are surrounded by a grey-green fibrous endocarp, or parchment sheath.

Seeds are paired, hemispherical, in a pea berry there is only one seed; of the two anomalies, there are "elephants" - flat coffee beans fused in pairs; 3-4 or more seeds are found in the fruits of the polysperma mutant. The coefficient of useful ovary is high - about 40%. From the moment of setting to fruit ripening, 7-9 months pass. Some ovaries fall off in the first 10 weeks after flowering, the rest may hang until harvest. Seed polyembryony occurs.

Dry seeds after removing the silvery peel go to trade. 1 kg contains about 2200 seeds. They are obtained from 5-6 kg of whole fruits.

Congolese coffee (Coffea canephora). Congolese coffee is a vigorous, hairless, evergreen shrub or small tree 2 to 10 m high, durable. The English scientist Thomas met individual hundred-year-old trees of Congolese coffee on the islands of Lake. Victoria.

The tap root is short, the main mass of overgrown roots is concentrated in the surface 15 cm soil layer.

Wild plants in conditions of slight shading branch near the soil surface and grow in the form of a bush, in conditions of strong shading they have a well-developed trunk, which is typical for tree-like plants. Plants often develop in the shape of an umbrella. In culture, tree-like and bushy plants are cultivated. Branches vertical and horizontal (fruit branches). After a natural death, the branches fall off (called branch fall), while the branches that have died off on the Arabian coffee tree remain in place and are removed by pruning.

The Congolese coffee tree begins to bloom, entering the fruiting period, at the age of 2,5-3 years. Inflorescences, like those of Arabian coffee, develop on fruiting branches from axillary buds. Usually in each axil, inflorescences appear from 3-4 buds, but sometimes from all 6. Each inflorescence has 6 flowers, but sometimes only 2-4. The flowers are white and very fragrant.

Congolese coffee is self-sterile, the maximum self-fertility - 0,24% - was noted in the Congo. Sterility is due to imperfect formation and growth of pollen tubes. The popularity and spread of the bushy form is partly due to its greater tendency to self-fertility.

Pollen grains are light, they are carried by the wind at a distance of up to 100 m or more. These are mostly wind pollinated plants. The flowers are visited by insects but are thought to play a minor role in cross-pollination of the Congo coffee tree.

To ensure cross-pollination and obtain a good harvest when establishing a plantation, it is necessary to place at least two vegetatively propagated clones in adjacent rows. It is believed that interclonal incompatibility, if it occurs, is negligible. Good cross-pollination provides, as a rule, a high coefficient of useful ovary - 30-40%.

The fruits ripen 10-11 months after flowering. The fruit is a rounded berry, 0,8-1,5 cm long, but usually 1,2 cm long, on a short stalk; unripe fruits are green, mature ones are red, do not fall off and are on the tree until harvest; the exocarp is thin, the pulp (mesocarp) is relatively small, and the dense endocarp surrounds the seeds.

Congolese coffee is more productive than Arabian coffee. 3-6 fruits ripen on each inflorescence, and since there are 3-6 inflorescences in each leaf axil, from 20 to 70 fruits are placed in a node, in compact dense racemes. The mass of 3300 dry grains is 1 kg.

Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica). Liberian coffee is a vertically growing evergreen shrub or tree with a pyramidal crown, 5-17 m high. The branches are dimorphic. The leaves are leathery, wide, large, 15-30 cm long and 5-15 cm wide; 7-10 pairs of lateral veins; the petiole is short, 1-2 cm long. In each leaf axil there are 1-3 inflorescences, in the inflorescence 1-4 flowers. Flowers are white, fragrant. Unlike Arabian and Congolese coffees, which bloom predominantly in flushes, the Liberian coffee tree has remontant flowering. Throughout the year, the tree has fruits of various stages of maturity, ripened fruits do not fall off and remain on the tree until harvest.

Liberian coffee is self-sterile. Pollen is light and spread by wind and insects. The fruits ripen one year after the end of flowering. The mass of 1760 dry grains is 1 kg.

The species is resistant to many diseases, but susceptible to rust, used for fruit crops (mediocre quality), as well as a rootstock and in hybridization.

Features of coffee farming. In most countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the propagation and establishment of Arabian coffee plantations are seed. In addition to simplicity, this is also facilitated by the high degree of homozygosity of a number of forms and varieties. There is also polyembryony of seeds, which ensures the preservation of the properties of the variety during seed propagation, since nucellar seedlings carry the hereditary information of the mother plant.

The intensification of coffee culture is largely associated with the growing role of vegetative propagation. Shoots for budding and rooting of cuttings are taken from selected bug mother plants from vertical shoots. Wen are successfully used in the vegetative propagation of the coffee tree. If horizontal stems are used as shoots for budding and cuttings, then creeping plants are obtained that are unsuitable for laying a commercial plantation.

Budding into a T-shaped or back T-shaped incision is carried out in the nursery on seedlings not older than 2 years of age at a height of 22-30 cm from the soil surface. Grafted plants enter fruiting at the age of 2,5 years. Budding as a method of vegetative propagation is not the main one in obtaining grafted seedlings. The most widespread vaccination is cleft. As rootstocks, seedlings with a stem diameter of about 1,2 cm and scions are used - cuttings of 1 or 2 nodes and internodes taken from strong lignified vertical shoots. Root grafting is also successfully used.

Before regrafting trees, they cut off the top of the trunk to stimulate the formation of water shoots, then split grafting with the best clones on vertical shoots.

Seedlings obtained by rooting cuttings of a coffee tree are highly valued, since the planting material has a complete repetition of the properties of the clone. Green cuttings 10-15 cm long and with 3-4 nodes are taken from the tops of vertical shoots from unshaded trees, while the cuts are made in the middle of the internode. On the cuttings, the two lower leaves are removed, the remaining leaf blades are shortened. Cuttings are planted for rooting in protected ground conditions in a substrate of peat moss and coarse sand. For successful rooting of cuttings, illumination, low temperature and relative humidity of about 90% are necessary. Cuttings take root 3-4 months.

In most parts of the world, planting material for coffee plantations is grown in nurseries. Seeds for sowing are taken from mature fruits of high-yielding mother trees. Seeds floating in the water, "pea" (small) and "elephant" (large, fused) are removed. Seeds are cleaned from the pulp manually to avoid mechanical damage. For sowing it is necessary to use fresh seeds, so they are sown in the nursery during the harvest of coffee fruits. When storing selenium, they quickly lose their germination.

Sowing ridges are dug up to a depth of 60 cm, fertilized and carefully processed. The width of the ridges of 120 cm is most convenient for care, weeding, watering, etc. The ridges are mulched, shading is arranged from above. Seeds are sown densely (about 1000 seeds per 1 m2) in beds to a depth of 1-1,5 cm, then at the cotyledon stage they are dived into ridges (20-30 seedlings per 1 m2) at a distance of 15-25 cm. Seeds can be immediately sown with the required feeding area, so as not to make additional plant transplants in the nursery. Seedlings can also be grown in plastic bags or other containers.

Soil for ridges and stuffing bags is prepared from a mixture of arable horizon soil, sand and organic compost, rotted manure or litter. Superphosphate and talc are added to the soil at a rate of 2 kg per 1 m3.

Seed germination lasts 4-8 weeks. It is recommended to transplant plants to the plantation at the stage of 6 leaves and at the age of 6-10 months. They are sometimes planted topped 23 cm from the lignified (brown) stem part of the seedling or seedlings with 2-6 lateral branches at 12-24 months of age, but in this case they require more space in the beds. After digging, the seedlings are sorted in the nursery and transported to the plantation with a clod of earth fixed at the roots, although they are often planted with bare roots. In the latter case, before planting, the roots are dipped in a clay-earth mash. The best planting time is the beginning of the rainy season.

In Brazil, a plantation method is used by sowing seeds directly in the field. This practice is typical for areas recently cleared of forest. Pits are dug with a feeding area of ​​3x3 or 3,5x3,5 m, a diameter of 45-60 cm and a depth of 10-15 cm. 12-20 seeds are sown on its bottom. The pits are shaded with palm leaves or other materials during the germination period and 4-6 trees are grown in each hole until full maturity. Seedlings grow with an elongated hypocotyl knee (hypocotyl). The pits are leveled over time, and additional, adventitious roots are formed on the hypocotyl. However, on lands that have long been cleared of forests, seedlings grown in a nursery are planted.

The distance between plants on plantations is determined by the type and fertility of the soil, the strength of the growth of the variety, the type of formation, and other factors. Large feeding areas are typical for Arabian coffee plantations with a multi-stemmed shaping system, smaller ones for low-growing varieties, as well as for plants on poor soils and with a single-stemmed shaping. Therefore, the distances between trees for Arabian coffee vary from 1,5 to 3,5 m. From 1 to 1000 seedlings are planted per 2660 ha. In super-intensive plantings, from 4166 (nourishing area - 2,0x1,2 m) to 5000 (1,5x1,5 m) plants per 1 ha are placed.

Before planting seedlings, up to 60 kg of organic fertilizers (compost, rotted manure, etc.) or any plant residues, as well as mineral fertilizers, are applied into prepared pits measuring 60 x 2 cm.

The Congolese coffee tree is propagated primarily by seeds taken from elite populations of high quality clones. In Indonesia, seedlings are obtained by split grafting and eye on seedlings of nematode-resistant rootstocks of the Liberian coffee tree. In Uganda, the Congolese coffee tree is propagated by layering. Tree-like forms and varieties are planted on plantations with feeding areas of 3x3 or 3,5x3,5 m, bushy - 4,5x4,5 m (500-1111 plants/ha). Up to 2-3 thousand plants per 1 ha are placed in super-intensive plantations.

The Liberian coffee tree is propagated from seed in nurseries. Plant nutrition area on plantations - 3,5x3,5 m.

Caring for the soil on coffee plantations is not fundamentally different from caring for other fruit crops in the tropical and subtropical zones. On young coffee plantations, during the first 2 years, the system of soil maintenance is successfully applied - intermediate, or inter-row, crops with sowing of beans, beans, cowpeas or peanuts.

In Vietnam, upland rice is widely used as an inter-row crop. It is sown before planting coffee seedlings, and planting is carried out in growing rice, which plays the role of a shader. After harvesting rice, with the onset of the dry season, corn is grown in the aisles of young coffee, and dry rice is grown during the summer rains.

Weed control, especially in dry areas, helps increase the yield of coffee trees. Grass weeds cause especially great damage to plantations. In the fight against weeds, herbicides are used, mainly in the rows or in the area of ​​the near-stem circle. On fruit-bearing plantations with closed crowns of trees, as well as with the use of shaders, the illumination near the soil surface is reduced so much that weeds cannot develop intensively enough and there is no need to fight them.

Sodding, i.e., long-term artificial or natural grassing, is used in many areas where there is a large amount of precipitation, as well as on slopes. This system is believed to be more effective on slopes than terraces.

Soil mulching on plantations is successfully used in areas with low rainfall. Mulch is usually applied before the beginning of the rainy season with a layer of up to 10 cm in the form of dry grass, leaves and remnants of false banana trunks or other materials. However, mulching increases the risk of fire; in addition, in frost-prone areas of Brazil, damage to coffee trees was more significant in mulched areas.

Most commercial plantations in the world are cultivated without shaders. Shades are undesirable in dry areas such as Brazil and Kenya as they compete with coffee trees for soil moisture. Shadeless coffee trees produce higher early yields but tend to over- and intermittent fruiting, wasting, disease infestation, premature dieback and soil erosion.

Shading is advisable to apply in conditions of extensive culture and in extreme, extreme areas of coffee cultivation. Under these conditions, shading provides a number of benefits: the productive life of the coffee tree is increased, crop overload is prevented, and the trees tend to bear fruit annually; a favorable microclimate is maintained, since in hot weather the temperature of air and soil decreases, and in cold weather it rises. Due to the reduction of damage from overheating and hypothermia, the damage from diseases and pests is reduced: the evaporation and transpiration of coffee is reduced.

Shade trees, due to leaf fall, replenish stocks of mulch and organic matter on the plantation, their roots absorb mineral nutrients from deep soil horizons and carry them closer to the surface. Shade trees from the legume family can fix nitrogen in the soil air and improve the nutrient regime in the soil. The surface layer of the soil is better protected from the destruction of organic matter under the influence of direct sunlight and from water erosion; strong root system of shaders can improve soil aeration and drainage; reduces the cost of weed control, etc.

In coffee plantations, shade trees may be planted or left behind after deforestation. Permanent shaders should be compatible with the crop and not overly compete with coffee trees for water and nutrition. They should be durable, with a deep root system that would be placed in different soil horizons compared to the roots of the coffee tree. Shade plants should not share common pests and diseases with the coffee tree. It is desirable that these be plants from the legume family. Deciduous shaders during the dry season are beneficial as they increase the mulch layer and do not compete with the coffee tree for water and nutrition during this period, although coffee transpiration increases.

Among temporary shaders, fast-growing species are used, which are on the plantation until large shade trees grow. In some areas of culture, two-tier shading is used.

The Arabian coffee tree, depending on the altitude and other conditions, requires varying degrees of shading - from light to medium, but in most cases it is cultivated in open plantations. The Congo coffee tree responds well to shading, especially in its early years. Plantations in East Africa often use the banana as a shade and catch crop. In Indonesia, the Congolese coffee tree is used as a catch crop in hevea plantations.

The Liberian coffee tree requires even, thin shading, but often grows without it. In the Philippines, it is cultivated under coconut palms.

Silky oak, eucalyptus and other powerful trees are used as windbreakers. They are planted from coffee trees at a distance of no closer than 9 m. They are distinguished by rapid growth, durable wood, give strong shading and are extremely moisture-loving.

Coffee trees begin to bear fruit 3-4 years after planting and come into full fruiting at the age of 5-8 years. The duration of the rational use of coffee plantations is determined by environmental conditions and the level of agricultural technology. In Brazil, Africa and India there are plantations 70-100 years old. However, it is considered appropriate to use commercial plantations for 20-50 years. In Indonesia, China and Central America, the usual depreciation period for coffee plantations is no more than 20 years, since the decline in tree yields is already noted at the age of 7-13 years.

In the southern provinces of China (Hainan, Guangdong and Yunnan), the average depreciation period for coffee plantations is 20 years. Of these, 15 years fall on the period of fruiting. At the age of 8 and 14, the plants are rejuvenated by removing the aerial part after trimming the bole at a height of 25-35 cm from the soil surface. After such an operation, the crowns of trees are restored due to growing tops during the year, during this period the plants do not produce a crop. In general, the 5-year harvest-free period consists of 3 years before young plants begin to bear fruit and 2 years required for crown restoration after two rejuvenations.

Depending on the growing conditions, the fruits of the Arabian coffee tree ripen 7-9 months after flowering, the Congolese - after 9-10 months. Arabian coffee is harvested by hand in several collections as the fruits ripen with an interval of 10-14 days. Selective harvesting of ripe fruits ensures the highest quality. Harvest ripens within 1-2 months. Overripe leads to a loss of fruit quality, overripe fruits fall to the ground.

The harvesting season extends over several months due to the variety of environmental conditions, agrotechnical features and the significant diversity in plantation populations. Therefore, coffee is harvested in Ecuador from June to November, in Venezuela - from November to March, in Guatemala - from August to May, in Cuba - from July to December, in Brazil - from April to August, in Java - from May to December. , in Angola - from June to October, in Cameroon - from October to December. The fruits from the Congolese and Liberian coffee trees are harvested once, they are allowed to dry on the tree, as they do not crumble when overripe.

After harvesting the fruits, 2 methods of their processing are used: dry and wet. In the dry processing method, freshly harvested fruits are scattered on the current in an even layer and dried in the sun for 15-25 days or in dryers and the dried pulp and hard shells are mechanically separated, then polished on rotating drums to remove the silvery skin, and sorted by size. This is the main way of processing the fruits of the Congolese and Liberian coffee trees. However, the main crop of coffee in Brazil, which is obtained mainly from the Arabian coffee tree, is processed in this way. It is known that the best product of any type of coffee is obtained by processing the fruit in a wet way.

After harvesting the fruits, the seeds are cleaned from the pulp, the exo-carp and part of the fleshy mesocarp are removed; as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours they begin to ferment. Fermentation lasts from 12 to 24 hours, it can be accelerated by the addition of enzyme preparations or 2% NaOH. The remains of the fermented pulp are washed with water, the fruits are sorted and then dried in the sun or hot air. Solar drying lasts 8-10 days. Well processed grains have a bluish-green color.

The dried peel is separated mechanically, the grains are polished and sorted. When peeling, the endocarp and seed coat (silver skin) are removed, its minor residues are removed during polishing, which also gives a gloss to the surface of the grain.

Commercial coffee contains the following substances (in%): water - no more than 4, protein - no more than 15, fat - no more than 15, sugar - 9, caffeic acid - 9, other water-soluble substances - 5, fiber and other substances - 35, ash - no more than 5, caffeine in Arabian coffee beans is 1-1,5, Congolese - 2-2,5, Liberian - 1,4-1,6. When roasting beans, water is lost, sugars are partially caramelized and fiber is charred, aroma and taste appear.

The yield of the Arabian coffee tree is considered low if it is 0,3 t/ha, medium - at 0,6-0,8 t/ha, good - at 0,8-1,2 t/ha, very good - at 1,2 ,2,0-2,0 t/ha, outstanding - at over 0,8 t/ha; the harvest of the Congolese tree can be considered good if it is 1,3-1,3 t/ha, very good - at 2,2-2,2 t/ha, outstanding - over 0,7 t/ha; the yield of the Liberian coffee tree can be considered good if it is 0,9-0,9 t/ha, very good - at 1,4-3,0 t/ha, outstanding - at XNUMX t/ha.

Coffee tree yields fluctuate considerably. The highest yields of Arabian coffee are obtained in the Hawaiian Islands, Kenya, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia, Brazil - from 0,8 to 2,5 t/ha. In especially favorable conditions, such as, for example, in the Yueksi region, Guangdong province (China), in super-intensive plantations of Arabian coffee (4150-4500 plants per 1 ha), yields of 3-3,5 t/ha or more are obtained.

Authors: Baranov V.D., Ustimenko G.V.

A coffee tree. Botanical description of the plant, areas of growth and ecology, economic importance, applications

A small evergreen tree or large shrub 3-6 m high of the haze family. The fruits are red, black, black-blue, rarely yellow, the size of a cherry, with a rather juicy edible pericarp.

Coffee is imported in raw beans. They are processed - roasted and ground. When roasting, a combination of aromatic substances is formed that gives the drink made from coffee a peculiar taste and aroma. Due to the caramelization of sugar, the grains acquire a dark brown color, and the drink - a brown color. Coffee enters the retail network mainly roasted (in beans or ground).

Commercial coffee contains about 10% water, fats (10%), proteins (13-15%), caffeine (0,5-2,5%). The seeds are used to make a drink and get caffeine.

The nutritional value of coffee lies in its characteristic taste qualities and the ability to temporarily increase efficiency and creative activity.

The sweet pulp of coffee berries tastes somewhat reminiscent of rose hips. In Africa, it is used to make various drinks. In the tropics, traditional medicine recommends coffee seeds as an antidote to opium in cholera.

In medicine, caffeine is used for depression of the central nervous system, for drug poisoning, for insufficiency of the cardiovascular system and spasms of cerebral vessels (migraines). Caffeine is also part of a number of drugs.

Contraindicated in hyperexcitability, insomnia, hypertension, atherosclerosis, organic diseases of the cardiovascular system, gastritis, patients with gastric ulcer, children and the elderly.

Authors: Dudnichenko L.G., Krivenko V.V.

Coffee. The history of growing a plant, economic importance, cultivation, use in cooking

When medieval alchemists distilled a substance with a sharp burning taste from wine, they called it spiritus vini - the spirit of wine, the soul of wine. No matter how we feel about alcohol, we must still admit that without a few percent of ethyl alcohol, excellent grape wines will lose their charm.

Well, what gives special charm to coffee, what substance can be called its soul? Isn't it caffeine?

To quote Honoré de Balzac: "Coffee enters your stomach, and your body immediately comes to life, thoughts set in motion, like battalions of the Great Army on the battlefield ..."

Everyone probably knows that coffee owes its ability to excite the nervous system, sharpen and enhance the activity of the sense organs to the alkaloid caffeine. About this substance is now known, if not everything, then almost everything. This is trimethylxanthine, or, more precisely, 1,3,7-trimethyl-2,6-dioxipurine.

Coffee contains 0,6 to 2,4% caffeine; it is also found in tea leaves, cola nuts, guarana fruits and some other plants. But it was discovered in coffee beans, which is reflected in the name. Now caffeine is obtained either by extraction of tea dust, or synthetically (for the first time it was synthesized more than a hundred years ago - in 1861).

When physiologists and physicians took up caffeine, it turned out that it stimulates the processes of excitation in the cerebral cortex, and this leads to an increase in overall metabolism and mental activity. Caffeine has become a very common drug. However, the healing properties of coffee were known to Arabic medicine already a thousand years ago: they are described in the writings of Abu Bahri Muhammad ibn Zahari iya al Razi, known in Europe under the name of Razes. In 1592, the Italian physician Prosper d'Alpino wrote about the treatment with coffee.

It turns out that invigorating caffeine is the soul of coffee? Why, then, was Balzac not too lazy to go around almost all of Paris to buy his favorite, most fragrant variety - after all, tasteless coffee also invigorates? And by the way, in many low grades (for example, in Robusta coffee of African origin) there is much more caffeine than in higher grades. Something is not right here... Therefore, we will continue the search for the soul.

The aroma is what matters. Science knows chlorogenic acid. "There is reason to believe," wrote Smith, "that it is the products of its breakdown that give coffee its characteristic taste and aroma." But he immediately made a reservation: "It may seem that the problem of determining the "taste" components of coffee simply does not exist - it has been solved! In fact, this is not so."

However, we note that the taste of coffee can at least be characterized: slightly bitter, pleasant, with various shades - sour, wine, etc. The taste of roasted coffee is created by caffeine, and another alkaloid - trigonelline, and chlorogenic acid mentioned by Smith, and caramels, which are formed during frying. In the finished drink, the sweetness of sugar, the taste of milk or cream is added to the weak bitterness of coffee.

Much more difficult is the case with aroma. What substance creates it, and is it not this substance that should be recognized as the soul of coffee?

At the very beginning of our century, the German chemist Erdmann, distilling roasted coffee with superheated steam, isolated a sharp-smelling oil. This oil he gave the name "cafeol". When coffee was deprived of cafeol, the aroma also disappeared - the drink lost all its charm. It turns out that coffee, on which the smell depends, should be called the soul of coffee.

Erdmann found only 0,0557% caffeol in roasted coffee. This figure was introduced into Russian literature by Professor F. V. Tserevitinov, and over the course of a number of years it passed from one book to another. In fact, it has now been established that roasted coffee can contain up to 1,5% caffeol.

Coffee has a complex soul. Kafeol is not one, individual substance, but a complex mixture. Erdmann identified just over ten compounds, including acetic acid, methanol, acetaldehyde, methyl mercaptan, and furfuryl mercaptan. In the thirties, the number of identified components of caffeol exceeded seventy. But the matter did not end there. In 1960, the work was continued by American researchers A. Zlatkis and M. Sayvets, who identified two groups of products - aroma carriers. The first, the so-called aroma essence, was condensed from the gases that form when coffee is roasted. The second was obtained from the distillate during the distillation of roasted coffee in a vacuum. The number of components responsible for the aroma of coffee has exceeded a hundred, and the authors identified fifteen organic acids alone!

But the study of coffee aroma did not stop there. In order not to tire the reader, we will mention only one more work published in 1967. The Americans F. Gottshy and M. Winter, using such modern research methods as molecular distillation, spectrophotometry and gas chromatography, discovered more than 220 components that create coffee aroma. Try to figure out here what is the main thing in the soul of coffee, what is secondary. Acetaldehyde in cafeol is almost 20%, acetone 18,7%, valeric aldehyde 7,3%, but thiophene, ethyl mercaptan and ethyl formate are only 0,1% each. But you can’t rely on arithmetic here - when it comes to smell, tenths of a percent can outweigh.

Is instant coffee good? On a can of instant coffee, it says: "Produced from natural coffee and retains all its taste and nutritional properties." There is no doubt about the raw materials - indeed, instant coffee is obtained by evaporating the aqueous extract of coffee to dryness. As for the flavors...

You do not have to be a taster to distinguish instant coffee from regular coffee: the taste and aroma are much less pronounced. There are, of course, fans of instant coffee, but still a true connoisseur will not exchange a drink made from freshly ground roasted beans for it. (For all this, instant coffee is in great demand, and although it is already made in six cities in our country, it remains a scarce commodity.)

To test how much the soul of roasted coffee suffers when it turns into instant coffee, a group of scientists examined instant coffee using three methods: chemical, spectrophotometric and gas chromatographic. Such a versatile study practically excluded erroneous conclusions.

Somehow it was taken for granted that the smell and taste are weakened due to the fact that volatile substances are lost during the drying of the coffee extract. In fact, it turned out that most of the aromatic substances are lost during extraction, when soluble substances are extracted from ground coffee. So, if the aromaticity number of roasted coffee (there is such an objective indicator) is 0,60, then for coffee extract it is only 0,43, and for dried powder - 0,32. Spectrophotometry gave an even more convincing picture. The number of volatile carbonyl compounds (in terms of acetaldehyde) was 9,05 for roasted coffee, 3,48 for the extract and 1,79 for the finished product. And gas chromatography confirmed: up to 85% of volatile substances are lost during extraction.

Of course, we did not observe complete coincidence, because each of the methods detects a certain range of chemical compounds that are not equally responsible for the aroma of coffee. But the conclusion nevertheless can be made: serious changes occur with the soul of instant coffee during extraction and drying. (No wonder the inventor of instant coffee, the Swiss chemist Max Morgenthaler, said that he prefers ordinary water to instant coffee.)

Is it possible to somehow improve such a convenient drink? Apparently, first of all, it is necessary to soften the extraction mode. Switching from heat drying to freeze drying can also help. There are other recommendations - for example, first extract coffee with cold water, and only then with hot water. It is also advised to trap volatile substances, condense them and re-add during drying. But things are not going further than advice yet - we have to think about the economy, and instant coffee is not very cheap even now.

Synthetic soul. But why not improve the quality of instant coffee by adding an artificial or synthetic flavor to it? They make lemonade without any lemons!

Attempts to impart a coffee flavor to chicory and other coffee substitutes have been made for a long time. To understand what is the difficulty here, let's return once again to cafeol - the aroma carrier. Unlike caffeine, a product of photosynthesis, caffeol is formed only when coffee is roasted as a result of many pyrochemical reactions. Thus, the pentosans contained in coffee beans lose water under the influence of high temperature and eventually turn into furfural. In a word, it is not enough to know what is in the grain; one must take into account what it all turns into.

There are dozens of recipes for coffee-scented fragrances in the literature. They can both flavor coffee surrogates and enhance the smell of natural coffee, including instant coffee. The well-known English odor specialist R. Moncrief gives a recipe for such a perfume, consisting of 16 components. At one time, the Ukrainian Research Institute of Food Industry developed a mixture for flavoring chicory and barley coffee, consisting of furfural, methyl mercaptan, furfuryl mercaptan, valeric aldehyde, isovaleric acid, guaiacol, hydroquinone and soybean oil; this mixture was added to the product in a ratio of 1:10. In the journal "Canning and Vegetable Drying Industry" a recipe for a fragrance consisting of 000 substances was given.

Well, so what - the goal is achieved? Alas ... It seems, but not quite. Firstly, even 23 components are nothing compared to what is in caffeol. And secondly, the role of individual components is far from being studied. Missed a trifle - and goodbye flavor!

In a word, we have to admit that creating a synthetic soul for coffee is still an impossible task. And if you want to drink "sweet coffee", then there is only one way to do this: buy good grains, grind and brew according to all the rules, leaving a jar of instant coffee aside...

Author: Volper I.

Coffee. reference Information

Coffee is one of the most popular and very favorite drinks. They drink coffee with milk, and some lovers drink only black. Coffee has a pleasant aroma, satisfies hunger and thirst, and most importantly - gives a person cheerfulness. The ability to "drive away sleep" especially served the spread of coffee.

Coffee trees grew wild in southern Abyssinia in the area of ​​Kaffa. Galla Negroes have long used coffee beans roasted with butter.

The coffee tree does not tolerate direct sunlight and grows in the shade of trees. It has glossy leathery leaves and white flowers that smell like jasmine. The coffee tree in Java bears fruit three times a year. On the branches of a tree, one can simultaneously see snow-white flowers and berries of different colors: greenish, yellow, orange and ripe - purple. Berry the size of a cherry, but oblong, contains two semicircular grains. Seeds that fall from a tree germinate almost immediately on the surface of the soil, provided the soil is shaded by trees. Coffee seeds quickly lose their germination capacity, and therefore for a long time it was not possible to grow coffee from seeds in other countries.

For the first time, Arabs began to breed coffee in Arabia. The best coffee grows there - mocha, so named due to the fact that it was exported from Arabia through the port of Mocha.

The use of coffee became known in Constantinople in 1454, in Italy in 1642; In London in 1652, the first coffee house was opened, which has survived to this day under the name "Virgonia" (Virgonia Coffeehouse). Coffee houses have appeared in Paris since 1672, and after 50 years there were already 380 of them. Rousseau and Voltaire wrote their works in coffee houses in Paris.

The spread of coffee among the population was accompanied by a fierce struggle of opinions.

The clergy of England rebelled against the "Turkish drink". At the same time, it was said that "the coffee houses on the day of judgment will appear with faces blacker than the pots from which they drink coffee." In 1675, a petition was submitted to the English king Charles II to ban coffee, this "soot syrup, the black blood of the Turks, a decoction of old boots and shoes."

But ardent defenders of the new drink also appeared, especially among doctors who considered coffee useful for mental work and acted "in the interests of suffering humanity and the Dutch merchants" who traded coffee. The physiologist Malechotte believed that “coffee enhances the susceptibility of impressions, and then attention; develops the ability of judgment; excites activity; calls to creativity; one new thought drives another; but a calm discussion of thoughts born before is impossible, and, finally, it goes without saying, drives away sleep." To top it all, poems, songs and cantatas about coffee appeared in France ("Coffee", "Song of Coffee", "Coffee House", etc.). Coffee advocates gradually triumphed, and the need for it increased.

In a number of states, there was an interest in growing coffee in the colonies.

In 1690, young coffee trees were sent from Batavia to the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens, where they blossomed and bore fruit. In 1714, the magistrate of Amsterdam presented one coffee tree covered with fruits as the greatest rarity to King Louis XIV of France, who ordered it to be planted in his garden in Marly. The French really wanted to plant coffee tree plantations in their colonies. In Paris, seedlings were grown from the seeds of this tree in a greenhouse. But they didn't grow well and died.

Around the same time, the Dutch in Suriname started planting coffee. Despite the secrecy of this enterprise and all the vigilance of the Dutch, the Frenchman De La Mothe stole fresh seedlings and transported them to Cayenne, where he was governor.

In 1723, at last, in the Parisian Botanical Garden, it was possible to grow a single tree from a seed.

The king instructed the sea captain de Clie to transport the grown tree to the island of Martinique.

De Clie describes this event in one of his letters:

“Having received a valuable plant at my disposal, I set off with great pleasure on one of the French merchant ships; our journey was long and tiring, we suffered a lot from lack of water, so for more than a month I was forced to share my portion water with a coffee plant entrusted to me, it was my whole property, and I placed the most brilliant hopes in it. Due to its extraordinary weakness, it needed constant care and did not exceed the size of a carnation seedling. When at last I arrived on the island of Martinique, then my first concern was to find in the garden the most convenient place for planting; although I did not lose sight of the plant, nevertheless, out of caution, I surrounded it with thorny bushes and assigned a watchman who guarded it until the fruits were fully ripe.

De Clieux collected only two pounds of coffee beans for the first time and distributed them to other gardeners. In Martinique in 1778, there were already 16 million coffee trees. From Martinique, coffee trees spread throughout tropical America.

The Dutch planted coffee plantations on the island of Java. The British, having captured the island of Ceylon in 1793, also began to plant coffee on it. For plantations, they began to destroy the tropical forest that covered the slopes of the mountains. Trees on the top of the mountain were cut down in rows, and as they fell down, they broke other trees. Thus, in just a few minutes, a large area of ​​\uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbforest fell to the ground. All vegetation was then burned. On such soil, coffee trees in the early years gave a large harvest.

“If you go deeper into Ceylon,” writes A. N. Krasnov in 1895, “you will see the impoverishment of tropical nature ... Having flown several stations, the train quickly begins to rise, opening panoramas of predatory British activity to the right and left. Cuttings are visible everywhere .. The area is becoming more and more bare... The forest with its flora and fauna has disappeared, replaced by vast fields of coffee and cinnamon.

“The landscape is monotonous, boring, depressing with its monotony. I don’t want to believe that so recently herds of wild elephants roamed the dense forests here, and the tiger found its prey on arable land, where now timid Sinhalese women collect young leaves of a Chinese tree with gloved fingers, folding them in baskets hung around their necks. "Here, exploitation and theft lie at the basis. The territory of the Indian kingdom, seized and taken by force, with its virgin forests and untouched soil, became a victim of the English capitalist." "To pluck from the earth its beauty - forests, uproot its meadows and steppes, depriving them of their natural cover of vegetation, distorting all the normal conditions for the exchange of moisture and air, littering and polluting rivers, turning millions of acres into boundless ugly arable land, breeding harmful parasites and tares, and at the end of it all, to cover this mutilated, disfigured land from year to year with the same plants - this is the method of accursed European agriculture. So passionately, indignantly described his impressions at the end of the last century, our compatriot - the scientist A. N. Krasnov.

The quality of coffee depends on where it is grown. The best coffee is Arabian, or mocha, then Java. There is Ceylon coffee, Mexican, Jamaican, Portoric, Brazilian and others. Brazilian coffee is considered the worst, although 200 varieties of coffee are produced in Brazil and there are varieties that compete with the best and are sold under the name: mocha, java, martinique and others, while the worst varieties are faked as the best, for which the coffee beans are polished for glossiness and tinted. Recently, coffee beans have often been de-caffeinated by treating them with steam and then with benzene and chloroform. Such coffee instead of 1% caffeine contains about 0,2% caffeine, but without caffeine, coffee has no aroma, does not invigorate and does not drive away sleep. In addition to chicory, ground coffee is mixed with acorns, peanuts, fried bread, and much more. In the past, the warehouses of Hamburg were especially famous for falsifying coffee.

So, behind a cup of coffee, you can follow where and how this aromatic drink came to our table.

Mirage of the coffee forest. Useful information about the plant

People have different opinions about coffee. Some people think that it is as important as bread. They even came up with a saying: "He who drinks coffee in the morning does not get tired all day!" Others are more cautious. And they remember the sad fate of the Danish postmen. By tradition, they are treated in every house with a cup of fragrant drink. It is suspected that it is for this reason that they die early from heart disease.

However, after all, coffee can be different: Arabica and other varieties, soluble and in beans. Behind all this is the fate of countries, peoples, trade ... At first, planters seemed to grow coffee as profitable as developing a gold mine. Especially in Cuba.

What came of it, Friedrich Engels told the world. “What did it matter,” he wrote, “to the Spanish planters in Cuba, who burned forests on the slopes of the mountains and received fertilizer in the ashes from the fire, which was enough for one generation of very profitable coffee trees, what did they care that tropical rains then washed away the now defenseless upper layer of soil, leaving behind only bare rocks!

And now in our days I had to visit Cuba. I saw with my own eyes what the great philosopher wrote about. I saw black plastic bags lying along the roads filled with red tropical latelite. In a bag half a bucket of earth.

A tree will be planted in it and the bag will be squeezed between the rocks from which the soil has been washed away. This is how modern arborists have to pay for the fact that in the past planters planted coffee illiterately. Ignoring the laws of nature.

They themselves suffered from their ignorance. Once the island of eternal summer Ceylon was planted with coffee trees. And the island of Java. And other islands of Indonesia. It never occurred to them to go to the homeland of coffee, to Ethiopia, and see how it grows there.

Ethiopia is a special country. It lies on a high plateau. On the plateau. Coffee grows there in dense forests, in shade and dampness. Doesn't like too much sunlight.

And the planters planted it anywhere. True, it was shaded from above by other tall trees, but the situation was still not the same. It was then that the parasitic hemileia fungus attacked coffee, and with it twenty more pests. The trees withered in masses, the planters clutched their heads, but nothing could be done.

When professor of botany A. Krasnov arrived in Ceylon, he could not find a single surviving plantation. Found only a few dying stunted bushes. Here is all that remains of the past splendor. The same fate befell coffee on the island of Java and elsewhere.

I foresee the question: after all, we drink coffee every day. So, not everyone died ... Somewhere survived? Of course, the world is different. Conditions are different, coffee is also different. Hemiley fungus dealt mainly with the best variety of coffee - Arabica.

Other varieties have survived, and among them the best is the Congolese. They named him Robusta. In translation means - healthy, strong, rough. All three names are surprisingly accurate for the Congolese tree. It is not affected by the fungus - this is the main thing. Stay healthy. Delighted Indonesians planted almost all their plantations with Robusta before the Second World War.

But Robusta is called rough for a reason. It is worse in quality than Arabica. And it's harder to sell. I don't know what coffee growers would be doing if the world hadn't invented instant coffee. Soluble is made from a mixture of different varieties, which includes Robusta.

So what about Arabica? He also survived. But only where he was provided with such amenities as in his homeland. Now Arabica is grown where the height of the area is more than a thousand meters above sea level. Robusta - below a thousand. Arabica is a mountain dweller, and whoever forgets about it will face troubles and disappointments.

Another question is asked: why is Arabica an Arabian if it is a native of Ethiopia? Maybe they named it wrong? Let's compare the facts. The best goods are made not in Ethiopia, but in Arabia, in Yemen. Five centuries ago there was a "blessed" coffee garden in Yemen. And mocha coffee was sent from the port of the same name. On the other hand, the very word "coffee" is very consonant with the word Kaffa, one of the provinces of Ethiopia.

Travelers who visited Kaffa told about wild coffee forests: there is so much coffee that thousands and thousands of tons can be harvested. Carry not transport!

Botanists, although they did not really believe this, nevertheless, a scientific expedition left for the Ethiopian forests. Of course, the travelers exaggerated. But still, there were groups of trees here and there. They grew, as expected, under the protective canopy of other, mighty and tall trees of other species. The main protection was given by the anchor, once sung by Pushkin.

The botanists had already decided that the coffee in the forests was wild, when the following circumstance suddenly caught their eye. Near the coffee groups, there were very often breeds that were not forest at all - candelabra-like spurges and dracaena. These plants are companions of human habitation, because they are used in Africa as living fences.

Now it was not difficult to continue the thought and draw the following conclusion: since the remains of live fences were next to the coffee, it means that the coffee is not wild in the forest, but feral. And if so, then what about the homeland of coffee? So she's in Yemen? In Arabia?

Interested in history. And she seemed to confirm the conclusion. Previously, Kaffa was densely populated. Then the population fled due to civil strife. The villages were empty, and the rainforest swallowed them up.

For greater persuasiveness, scientists decided to trace how the fate of the feral creature develops further. And here curious facts came to light. The age of the stems turned out to be different, but a strict pattern was observed: the oldest trees always grew on the tops of the hills, and the youngest ones in the lowlands, near the rivers. How to explain? There were villages on the hills. Therefore, it is quite clear that the oldest specimens have been preserved there. From them, animals transported seeds to other places. Or maybe it carried water during showers. But why such a desire of coffee to the rivers?

French professor O. Chevalier, the best connoisseur of coffee, guessed. Yes, for the reason that coffee is a resident of coastal forests. So he returns to his rightful place.

So he is local. And it was brought to Yemen by caravaners, Arabians. They still love coffee. Re-importation is completely excluded. Why? Because religion forbade the Ethiopians to drink an invigorating drink. And if you don’t drink, then why bring it?

And now for the animals. They do not always carry seeds to the rivers (the pulp, of course, is eaten along the way). Other times - in the caves. Carried by elephants, birds, monkeys. Someone discovered that stronger and healthier trees grow in place of animal toilets. Then they began to hire boys to collect seeds, choosing from piles of manure. Seed material washed from sewage is sold on the market at a high price. And often it bears the name of the animal that prepared it.

Author: Smirnov A.

Black African potion. plant history

In the south-west of Ethiopia, in a mountainous area where there are large tracts of tropical rainforests, Arabian coffee (Coffea arabica). From its fruits make the most famous Arabica coffee with an exquisite aroma and great taste.

Another variety of coffee, known as Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica), comes from tropical evergreen forests located on the west coast of Africa, in Liberia. The drink from this coffee has a peculiar tart taste and a strong invigorating effect.

Another native of the forests of West Africa is Canifora coffee (Coffea canephora), better known as Robusta coffee. The plant is unpretentious in cultivation, and the drink from it, although less aromatic, contains more caffeine.

All three plants belong to the Rubiaceae family and are evergreen shrubs or trees 8-10 meters high. They have long flexible branches, slightly wavy, leathery, dark green leaves, yellow-white fragrant flowers, and dark red, black, black-blue, and sometimes yellow fruits the size of cherries. Each of them has two light gray seeds.

Having left their homeland, coffee trees have firmly established themselves on the plantations of South America and Southeast Asia, occupying a total of larger areas in the world than tea bushes.

Harvesting begins with four-year-old trees, they are kept on plantations for no more than 30 years, after which, due to a drop in productivity, they are changed to new ones, despite the fact that they can grow up to 200 years.

The harvested mature berries are mechanized to remove the pericarp, and light gray hard seeds under the trade name "coffee beans" go to coffee auctions. According to the place of production, raw coffee is divided into three groups: American varieties (Brazilian, Colombian, Costa Rican, Cuban, etc.), Asian varieties (Yemeni, Indian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, etc.) and African varieties (Ethiopian, Guinean, Kenyan, etc. .).

Raw coffee beans contain more than thirty different organic acids, one way or another involved in the formation of aroma and taste. One of them is chlorogenic, its content ranges from 4 to 8%, in such quantity it is found only in coffee beans. True, when roasted, this acid decomposes, forming organic products that give the drink a characteristic, slightly astringent taste.

There are alkaloids caffeine, theobromine and theophylline in coffee beans (the percentage of caffeine in coffee beans depends on the variety). They have a bitter taste, but practically do not affect the taste of the coffee drink, so attempts to connect the strength of coffee with its bitter taste are not based on anything. For example, coffee with a small addition of chicory, which does not contain caffeine and other alkaloids at all, tastes more bitter than any other coffee without chicory. During the roasting of beans, caffeine, theobromine and theophylline are almost completely preserved, and since the mass of coffee beans decreases, the percentage of alkaloids increases.

Contained in coffee beans is another alkaloid - trigonelline, it does not have a stimulating effect, but it plays an important role in the formation of taste and smell. When roasted, trigonelline turns into nicotinic acid (vitamin PP).

From 50 to 60% of the total mass of raw coffee beans are carbohydrates: sucrose, cellulose, pectins, monosaccharides? (glucose and fructose) and high molecular weight polysaccharides (fiber, lignin, etc.).

There are provitamin A in coffee beans, vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, PP, E, macro- and microelements (potassium predominates), as well as proteins (9-10%) and free fatty acids: in grains of the highest grades - 0,5, 3-20%, in grains of lower quality - XNUMX%. Linoleic and palmitic acids are predominant.

When roasting green coffee beans, water is partially removed from them; caramelization of sugars occurs with the formation of substances (caramelin, etc.), giving a brown color and a peculiar taste. Gas-liquid chromatography revealed 400 aromatic substances in a coffee drink made from roasted Arabica coffee beans. In other words, the taste, aroma and effect of coffee depend on the method of roasting the beans and the technology of preparation, during which organic substances undergo complex chemical transformations and pass into the drink in the form of extractives.

Different varieties of roasted coffee beans are characterized by the amount of extractives. The smallest amount (20%) is contained in Arabica coffee of the highest grade, the largest (30%) - in Robusta coffee of the second grade.

Whether the Ethiopians themselves drank coffee or not remains a mystery. But on the other hand, there is no doubt that the Arabs introduced the rest of the world to this drink. From Ethiopia, coffee came along the ancient incense road to Yemen, from where the most important trade routes from East Africa and Southeast Asia to the countries of the Middle East and Europe fanned out. Caravans with spices, incense, precious stones were constantly moving along them. Gradually, coffee began to occupy an increasing place among the goods, which, along with stories about its amazing properties, quickly spread throughout the medieval world, finding more and more new adherents.

In the 1511th century, coffee became so popular among the Arabs, Persians and Turks that they began to sit all day long on the streets and in coffee houses, drinking the drink and preferring this pleasant pastime to everyone else. Sometimes they even forgot about the obligatory five daily prayers. The clergy could not allow this last one and, having taken up arms against the "black African potion", the Council of Lawyers in Mecca in XNUMX cursed it, and the rulers of Muslim countries began to close coffee shops and burn coffee stocks. But even such harsh measures did not affect the habit of Muslims to drink coffee - they began to do it at home, and, for example, in Istanbul pretty soon there was not a single quarter where they would not drink it at least twice a day. Moreover, a tradition was born to treat each guest with coffee, and the refusal of a fragrant drink was considered a sign of bad taste. As a result, the authorities backed down and decided to allow coffee to be drunk again in coffee shops, imposing a special tax on it.

In Europe, the history of coffee drinking goes back about 350 years. The first acquaintance happened through the efforts of Persian and Turkish diplomats, who, without changing their habit of drinking this drink, introduced the European nobility to it. To a large extent, the spread of coffee was facilitated by European travelers who penetrated the countries of the East, and by Eastern merchants who brought exotic goods to the West.

In the Moscow State, coffee first came as a medicine, as evidenced by the notes left by the English physician Samuel Collins, who served from 1660 to 1669 as a life physician at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich: there is a cure for arrogance (colds - I.S.), runny noses and headaches. However, the real history of coffee in Russia begins from the time when Peter I, who energetically introduced European orders in patriarchal Rus', while traveling around Europe, became addicted to this drink himself and decided to introduce his entourage to it. Neither the taste, nor the appearance, nor the effect of coffee was liked by the Russian high society, and only fear of the wrath of the tsar, who would soon be punished, forced the boyars to buy and drink this expensive drink: “From below, from the kitchen (where the steep stairs went), it smelled bitter, scorched. "Mishka, where does the stink come from? Are they brewing coffee again?" - The Tsar ordered the boyar and the boyars to drink coffee in the morning, so we brew ... - I know ... Don't bare your teeth ... - Your will ... "(A. N. Tolstoy, Peter I). And no matter how hard Peter Alekseevich tried to force his subjects to drink coffee, this habit entered the consciousness of the Russian people gradually and largely thanks to the efforts of the three Russian empresses.

Empress Anna Ioannovna, who loved coffee, ordered the opening of a coffee house in St. Petersburg and ordered that the print media should popularize this drink. Under Elizabeth Petrovna, Karl Efimovich Sivers was inseparable - a personal coffee shop (coffee maker), who was obliged to appear in all places where the empress dined to brew coffee for her.

All her life, the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, who became the Russian Empress Catherine II, was a great admirer of coffee. A very strong drink was prepared for her - for five cups (100-130 ml each), at least a pound of coffee (about 400 g) went. Thick fresh cream, biscuits, crackers, and sugar were always served with coffee.

Time passed, and the example of the Russian empresses became infectious, first for the courtiers, and then for the guards, the nobility and landlords. Imitating them, a special person was brought in the house who brewed coffee: “At first he was definitely a cook, and then he got into coffee shops. - What? - Coffee shops. - What kind of position is this? - But I don’t know, father. and was called Anton, not Kuzma. So the lady deigned to order "(I. S. Turgenev. Notes of a hunter).

To a large extent, the acquaintance with foreign life during the war of 1812 contributed to the strengthening of the custom of drinking coffee. Coffee houses began to open in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and by the end of the XNUMXth century, both capitals were gripped by an all-consuming passion for coffee. It was drunk in each house several times a day, and it got to the point that the female servants, entering the service in good houses, made it a condition that they could drink the owner's coffee and receive additional ground coffee in kind. Here is what Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky wrote about this in his book Physiology of Petersburg: “The common people of St. Petersburg, in addition to half a gar and tea, also love coffee and cigars, which are even enjoyed by common men; and the fair sex of the St. Petersburg common people in the face of cooks and other kind of servants tea and vodka does not at all consider it a necessity, and without coffee he absolutely cannot live. True, the cooks' coffee was by no means Arabica. In Russia, the manufacture and use of cheap "coffee" flourished from overcooked barley grains, acorns, chicory roots, to which, at best, a little natural was added for smell, or even completely dispensed with.

In modern Russia, coffee has become an integral part of the daily life of more than half of the country's inhabitants. According to various estimates, its average per capita consumption is from 0,7 to 1,3 kg per year. For comparison: the leader of this rating - Finland - the same figure is about 12 kg per year.

The structure of the coffee market in Russia is characterized by a clear predominance of the instant coffee segment, whose share is 55-60% of coffee retail sales, in value terms - more than 70%. Instant coffee is an extract of natural coffee, which is produced in three types: powdered, granulated and freeze-dried instant.

To prepare coffee powder, finely ground coffee is treated with pressurized hot water. The extract obtained is filtered and dried with hot air. To fill the taste and smell, flavoring and aromatic additives are added.

Granulated coffee - the same powder, but turned into granules using a special steam treatment. To fill the smell, add a natural flavor.

Freeze-dried instant coffee is made from an aqueous extract that is frozen and dehydrated under vacuum at low pressure, resulting in a higher quality instant drink while retaining most of the flavor and aroma.

Nevertheless, at present there is a certain upward trend in the consumption of ground and grain varieties of coffee of the highest quality, and natural ground coffee occupies about 25% of the entire Russian coffee market.

Decaffeinated coffees are available for those who are trying to avoid stimulating effects. The process of removing caffeine is carried out using water, organic solvents, liquefied carbon dioxide. In this case, an irreparable loss of other alkaloids, aromatic and taste qualities occurs. But it is impossible to completely remove caffeine. Therefore, along with five or six cups of decaffeinated coffee, about the same amount of caffeine enters the body as is contained in one cup of regular coffee.

The reaction of a healthy body to a cup of good, properly prepared coffee is expressed in the fact that susceptibility and concentration increase, the feeling of fatigue decreases and aversion to any kind of useful activity disappears.

Coffee does not contain substances that can cause dangerous diseases, but when using it, you should always remember about moderation. So far, scientific studies have not found any association between the risk of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases and the habit of drinking coffee. At the same time, drinking this drink without measure and at the wrong time can cause nervousness, increased motor and speech activity, insomnia, headache, and palpitations. Those who are inclined to drink coffee always, everywhere and in any quantity should be aware of its insidious property to prevent sexual pleasure or to greatly suppress sexual desire.

Coffee should not be consumed in large quantities in the presence of gastritis, gastric ulcer or duodenal ulcer, accompanied by high acidity. Coffee is often advised to ladies who want to change their weight category. I, too, can't wait to contribute to this problem. Those who see their ideal in the portrait of Ida Rubinstein by V. A. Serov should use black coffee brewed in any way, but only without sugar, milk, and especially cream. Those wishing to find pleasing to the eye fullness, like the charming merchants from the paintings of B. M. Kustodiev, it is better to feast on cappuccino.

For a reasonable person, one - three cups of high-quality coffee of any strength per day will not hurt. What should be treated with caution is the information regularly appearing on the Internet and mass media about another "sensational discovery by foreign scientists" regarding the "shocking" effect of a cup of coffee on the human body.

The entire centuries-old experience of the human race suggests that the habit of drinking coffee, if it does not exceed the limits of reason, is certainly good.

In conclusion, let me quote from the book "The Source of Health, or a Dictionary of All Common Foods, Seasonings and Drinks Extracted from the Three Kingdoms of Nature, with a Detailed Description of Their Medicinal Powers and Beneficial or Harmful Actions in the Human Body", published in Moscow in 1808 . I am convinced that the thoughts expressed there, not without ancient grace, about the use of coffee are worth listening to: “But the fact that scientists to sit out the nights at books and compositions, while others drink coffee late in the evenings to drive away sleep, cannot be approved. The human body, exhausted during the day by various, both bodily and spiritual labors, invariably demands rest at night; being deprived of it, it will become weak, painful and grow old prematurely ... It is not entirely unbelievable that excessive consumption of coffee deprives men of their childbearing power ... Persons obsessed with hypochondria or hysteria are generally harmful, and therefore many mistresses should not feast on this drink they love.

Author: Sikolsky I.

Coffee tree, Coffea. Recipes for use in traditional medicine and cosmetology

Ethnoscience:

• To boost energy: Prepare an infusion from fresh or dry coffee beans. Pour boiling water over coffee beans and steep for 5-10 minutes. Refrigerate and drink as needed.
• For weight loss: Dried coffee beans can help you lose weight, thanks to their caffeine content, which can boost your metabolism. However, coffee should be consumed in moderation and not overused to avoid unwanted side effects.
• For headache treatment: coffee contains powerful antioxidants that can help manage headaches. To do this, you can drink a cup of coffee during the day or insist coffee beans on vodka and use this infusion to massage the temporal regions.
• To improve skin: coffee can be used to exfoliate the skin due to its abrasive properties. To do this, you can make a scrub from ground coffee, adding oil or other ingredients as desired.

Cosmetology:

• Scrub for face and body: mix 2 tablespoons ground coffee, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon honey. Apply to the skin and massage for a few minutes, then rinse with warm water.
• Mask for the face: mix 2 tablespoons ground coffee, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 egg white. Apply to face and leave on for 10-15 minutes, then rinse with warm water.
• Body cream: mix 1 cup coconut oil and 1 cup ground coffee. Heat over low heat until the coconut oil has melted. Cool and apply to the skin of the body to moisturize and soften it.
• Hair Mask: mix ground coffee and hair conditioner in equal proportions. Apply to hair and leave on for 15-20 minutes, then rinse thoroughly with water. Coffee will help strengthen your hair and give it shine.
• Body mask: Mix together 2 tablespoons ground coffee, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Apply to the skin of the body and massage for a few minutes, then rinse with warm water. This mask will help remove dead skin cells and give it a healthy look.

Attention! Before use, consult with a specialist!

Coffee tree, Coffea. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing

The coffee tree, also known as coffee, is a plant that produces coffee beans. It grows in tropical regions and can be grown both outdoors and in containers.

Tips for growing, harvesting and storing a coffee tree:

Cultivation:

• The coffee tree needs a sunny location and warm air temperature. It can grow both outdoors and indoors, but it needs a high level of humidity to thrive.
• Soil Selection: The coffee tree prefers light, well-drained soils with a pH of 6-6.5. The soil should be rich in organic matter and nutrients.
• Lighting: The coffee tree grows best in partial shade or full sun. However, if the cultivation takes place in hot regions, then the plant must be protected from too bright sun.
• Planting spacing and depth: Plants should be planted 1-1,5 meters apart to give them enough room to grow. Planting depth should be such that the roots are at a depth of 30-50 cm.
• Cultivation: The coffee tree needs careful care. It should be watered regularly, while the soil should not dry out. Plants need to be fed with complex fertilizers rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The optimal temperature for the growth of the coffee tree is 18-25 degrees Celsius.
• Care: The coffee tree should be pruned and crowned regularly to improve the quality of the crop. Plants must also be protected from pests and diseases.

Workpiece:

• The coffee beans are harvested when they are fully ripe and turn red. Then they are dried and cleaned from the outer shell.
• Coffee beans can be used to make drinks such as coffee or espresso, as well as to make desserts and other dishes.
• Beans should be roasted and ground before use.

Storage:

• Coffee beans should be stored in a cool and dry place, protected from light and air. It is recommended to use airtight containers made of glass or plastic.
• Ground coffee should be stored in a cool and dry place for no more than 2-3 weeks.
• Coffee should only be ground before use.

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