Coffee

The effect of two large cups of coffee drunk in the morning may last all day. A cup of coffee after lunch helps combat drowsiness and improves mental activity.

Coffee is the third most consumed beverage in the world after water and tea. Coffee bushes are recognizable for their simple leaves, opposed and frequently with well-developed stipules. The flowers are small, tubulous, and white.

The fruit is a drupe that contains two nuts and a sugary pulp.

An experience you can live in the Colombian Coffee Region

Coffea

This tropical bush belonging to the Rubiacea family, which comprises 500 genera and 8,000 species, is known as coffee tree or coffee producing plant.

One of these genera is Coffea, composed of trees, bushes, and woody vines that encompass 50 wild species and about ten civilized species, that is, cultivated by Man.

The fruit of the coffee tree, which takes on a reddish color when mature and is known as a cherry, and its toasted and ground seeds are used for human consumption. It is made up of:

• An exterior red or yellow covering called pulp
• A sugary, jelly-like substance called mucilage or baba
• A hard covering known as parchment or shell
• A finer, thinner covering known as silverskin
• And finally, the bean or almond, which is the greenish hard part of the fruit that is used to prepare the beverage once it has been roasted and ground

Caffeine

One of the byproducts of coffee is the alkaloid known as caffeine and very similar to the teaine present in tea, the mateine found in yerba mate, the beverage popular in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay; and the theobromine of cocoa.

The coffee ritual

Since its discovery, coffee has been one of humanity’s key flavors. In Africa, for example, coffee is employed in fertility rites. In many countries, coffee has a status not only as an indispensable product of fine dining to end a dinner with a delicious cup of coffee, but is also the main ingredient in varied, delicious recipes.

Visit the Official Guide of the Coffee Triangle*

• www.triangulodelcafe.travel

*"Unesco declares as World Heritage the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia that includes the regions of Quindio, Risaralda, Caldas and Valle del Cauca"