Coffee refers to three things at once: the plant of the genus Coffea, the roasted seed of the coffee cherry, and the beverage brewed from it.

What Is Coffee, Exactly – Plant, Bean, or Beverage?

Coffee refers to three things at once: the plant of the genus Coffea, the roasted seed of the coffee cherry, and the beverage brewed from it.

Why that matters

Botanically, coffee belongs to the Rubiaceae family. The coffee plant is an evergreen shrub that can grow up to 10 metres tall in the wild. On plantations, it’s pruned to 2–3 metres to make hand-picking possible.

What we casually call a “coffee bean” isn’t actually a bean at all. It’s the pit of a stone fruit — botanically comparable to a cherry or an olive. The coffee cherry grows on the shrub, ripens in 6–11 months depending on the variety, and typically contains two seeds lying flat against each other. Occasionally, only a single round seed develops inside the cherry — the so-called peaberry.

From pit to cup is a long journey: harvesting, processing (removing the fruit flesh), drying, shipping as green coffee, roasting, and finally grinding and brewing. Each of these steps shapes the flavour in the cup. Over 800 aroma compounds have been identified in roasted coffee — more than in wine, whisky, or chocolate.

Of the more than 120 described Coffea species, only two are commercially relevant: Arabica (roughly 60–65 % of global trade) and Robusta (35–40 %). Arabica grows at high altitudes, tastes more complex and acidic. Robusta thrives at lower elevations, contains more caffeine, and tastes bolder, often earthier.

At Green Wall Coffee

I hear this question regularly at the counter on Sophienstraße — usually from guests holding a bag of specialty coffee for the first time, reading “washed Arabica from Ethiopia” on the back. Then I explain: that’s not marketing speak. It describes the journey from shrub to cup. At our café in Berlin-Lichtenberg, we work exclusively with Arabica beans from direct imports, where we can trace the origin, processing, and roasting precisely.

If you want to taste the difference between washed and natural processing, you can try both as filter coffee at our place — and you’ll understand why “bean” doesn’t equal “bean.”

Related Questions

• Where does coffee originally come from?
• How many coffee species exist worldwide?
• What is the difference between Arabica and Robusta?

More depth on this topic in the article How to Make Perfect Espresso. Or stop by at Sophienstraße 27 — Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 10am–5pm.