Did you know that coffee comes from the fruit produced by a small tree called a coffee tree?
The coffee cherry is the coffee fruit, a berry that grows on the bushes of this plant and can reach 4 meters in height. These shrubs bloom with white, scented flowers. Once the flowers have faded, the cherries begin to appear, which take between 6 and 9 months to ripen.
It is a cherry inside which there are two seeds (which will be the future coffee beans) covered by a very thin silver film and a harder skin called parchment . Surrounding these three parts is the pulp (also called mucilage ) and, lastly, the skin of the cherry.
When the fruit ripens, the coffee pulp goes from being hard to being a gelatinous tissue thanks to the development of sugars and pectins. At the same time, the skin changes color from green to yellow, red, orange or even pink, depending on the variety.
It can be eaten as a fruit, but it is very little fleshy and has an acidic and astringent flavor. What really has value are its two grains. Plus, the caffeine rush can be heavy.
