The Coffee Tree
To discuss the scientific origin story of coffee, we begin our narrative with the Big Bang. The expansion of a point of singularity birthed time, space, and matter as we know it. As the universe continued to expand, gravity formed stars, planets, and other objects. Eventually, after billions of years, Earth was formed, on which, through gradual evolutionary processes, life was formed, giving rise to various lifeforms such as micro-organisms, animals, and plants. From a perspective that is zoomed out, coffee comes from this vast form of life called the "plant."
The coffee tree is a plant of the genus coffea, from the family rubiaceae, from the order gentianales, from the class magnoliopsida, from the division tracheophyta, from the kingdom plantae (Biology-Reference). From the genus coffea come 124 separate species of the coffea plant. Coffee is part of the angiosperms, which "contribute the reproductive structure of the flower to the seed habit of life" (Broker). When zoomed out, coffee must be traced back to the very first apppearance of plants, which dates back to 465 mya in the Ordovician period. Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, which coffea is a part of. There are more than 611 genera and 13,143 known and identified species of Rubiceae in the world today. In terms of evolutionary history, the fossil history of coffee's family Rubiceae dates as far back as the Eocene. In addition, "the geographic distribution of these fossils, coupled with the fact that they represent all three subfamilies, is indicative of an earlier origin for the family, probably in the Late Cretaceous or Paleocene" (Biology-Reference). Coming from the Rubiceae family, the two most well-known coffee plants are coffea Arabica and coffea Robusta. Coffea Arabica originates from the African continent in Ethiopia. It accounts for 75% of the world's coffee today; it is the world's standard coffee. Its own top 25% of beans are considered as luxurious coffee. Coffea Robusta, which is actually a variety of the larger specie known as Canephora, is sold in the market as a lower grade coffee. Robusta beans are often produced for "instant coffees and popular commercial blends" (Just About Coffee). Upon being asked in an interview, Mark Pendergrast stated that "Robusta may actually be the older tree, according to bio-geneticists. It originated somewhere in West Africa, most likely." By tracing the genealogical ancestry of the coffea plant, we may mark where coffee lies on the evolutionary, deep-time spectrum based on its botanical identity. |
The coffee tree consists of three main parts: the leaves, the flowers, and the berries. What is commonly known as the coffee "bean" is found as pairs inside the berry, which is often referred to as the cherry, because they are red when they are most ripe and ready for harvesting (Biology-Reference). The two small beans inside the berry are taken out and roasted to become coffee and enter the market. Chemically speaking, the specific appealing nature of coffee is found in the energy it provides the drinker; this is because it excites the nervous system. The Rubiceae family is known to have a few species that are known to stimulate the nervous system: Coffea, Cinchona, and Ipecacuanha (Biology-Reference). For Coffea, caffeine acts as this stimulant (refer to The Science of Coffee Beans section for more information).
After having painted this giant time-scale of the coffee tree and its ancestry throughout evolutionary history, and then zooming in and inspecting the botanical aspects of the tree itself, we are presented with multiple points to place the marker for coffee's origins. If we declare the overarching family of Rubiceae to be the generator of the coffee plant and thus the source of origin, we would place the beginnings of coffee to be around the Eocene Era, as mentioned. The time would jump sooner if coffee began with the generation of strictly Coffea. The timespans become even narrower if we limit it to one species of Coffea, such as Arabica or Robusta. The problem is, however, that none of these plants—no matter what point they are found at along the timeline—represent coffee as we see it today in the 21st century. If a coffee shop such as Starbucks was to decorate their walls with photos or drawings of coffee trees, few customers would recognize it as coffee. Instead, what do we see today in coffee shops? Pictures of beans, coffee mugs, and green mermaids. A certain transformation must occur for the coffee tree to transition from being a biological plant to an influential human commodity. In Cronon's "Kennecott Journey," the minerals at the site were valuable, but they only became valuable when the right external forces acted upon them: "Without the chalcocite and malachite that had concentrated copper in the fissures of Kennecott's dolomite, the human past of this place would have been entirely different. And yet the mere existence of these minerals did not in and of itself determine the events that took place here... For large-scale exploitation of Kennecott's copper to occur, a human community organized on an entirely different basis had first to find it" (Cronon). Just as multiple factors were needed to have Kennecott copper's full potential realized, such as humans who knew about electricity, enough workers, scientists, and transportation systems, the coffee plant required an extensive network of human intervention and control in order to determine its "fate." Essentially, the "mere existence" of coffee as a biological plant did not define or create coffee. This brings us to the next milestone in coffee's big history: the legendary discovery of coffee by Kaldi and the Dancing Goats.
After having painted this giant time-scale of the coffee tree and its ancestry throughout evolutionary history, and then zooming in and inspecting the botanical aspects of the tree itself, we are presented with multiple points to place the marker for coffee's origins. If we declare the overarching family of Rubiceae to be the generator of the coffee plant and thus the source of origin, we would place the beginnings of coffee to be around the Eocene Era, as mentioned. The time would jump sooner if coffee began with the generation of strictly Coffea. The timespans become even narrower if we limit it to one species of Coffea, such as Arabica or Robusta. The problem is, however, that none of these plants—no matter what point they are found at along the timeline—represent coffee as we see it today in the 21st century. If a coffee shop such as Starbucks was to decorate their walls with photos or drawings of coffee trees, few customers would recognize it as coffee. Instead, what do we see today in coffee shops? Pictures of beans, coffee mugs, and green mermaids. A certain transformation must occur for the coffee tree to transition from being a biological plant to an influential human commodity. In Cronon's "Kennecott Journey," the minerals at the site were valuable, but they only became valuable when the right external forces acted upon them: "Without the chalcocite and malachite that had concentrated copper in the fissures of Kennecott's dolomite, the human past of this place would have been entirely different. And yet the mere existence of these minerals did not in and of itself determine the events that took place here... For large-scale exploitation of Kennecott's copper to occur, a human community organized on an entirely different basis had first to find it" (Cronon). Just as multiple factors were needed to have Kennecott copper's full potential realized, such as humans who knew about electricity, enough workers, scientists, and transportation systems, the coffee plant required an extensive network of human intervention and control in order to determine its "fate." Essentially, the "mere existence" of coffee as a biological plant did not define or create coffee. This brings us to the next milestone in coffee's big history: the legendary discovery of coffee by Kaldi and the Dancing Goats.
Works Cited:
"80.05.01: The Evolution of Plants." 80.05.01: The Evolution of Plants. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1980/5/80.05.01.x.html
"Biology Reference." Coffee, Botany of. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.biologyreference.com/Ce-Co/Coffee-Botany-of.html
"Botanical Aspects." International Coffee Organization -. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.ico.org/botanical.asp
"Coffee (Coffea) - Information on Coffee - Encyclopedia of Life." Encyclopedia of Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://eol.org/pages/29482/overview
Pendergrast, Mark. Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. New York, NY: Basic, 1999. Print.
"The Coffee Tree." Just About Coffee. Just About Coffee and Kolb, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://justaboutcoffee.com/index.php?file=coffeetree
"15. THE BOTANY OF THE COFFEE PLANT." 15. THE BOTANY OF THE COFFEE PLANT., N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.web books.com/Classics/ON/B0/B701/20MB701.html
Gibson, C. Arthur, "KAHVEH, PRAISE ALLAH." Coffee. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., Web., http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Coffea/
"80.05.01: The Evolution of Plants." 80.05.01: The Evolution of Plants. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1980/5/80.05.01.x.html
"Biology Reference." Coffee, Botany of. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.biologyreference.com/Ce-Co/Coffee-Botany-of.html
"Botanical Aspects." International Coffee Organization -. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.ico.org/botanical.asp
"Coffee (Coffea) - Information on Coffee - Encyclopedia of Life." Encyclopedia of Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://eol.org/pages/29482/overview
Pendergrast, Mark. Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. New York, NY: Basic, 1999. Print.
"The Coffee Tree." Just About Coffee. Just About Coffee and Kolb, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://justaboutcoffee.com/index.php?file=coffeetree
"15. THE BOTANY OF THE COFFEE PLANT." 15. THE BOTANY OF THE COFFEE PLANT., N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., http://www.web books.com/Classics/ON/B0/B701/20MB701.html
Gibson, C. Arthur, "KAHVEH, PRAISE ALLAH." Coffee. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015., Web., http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Coffea/