For the coffee drinker there are two major types of coffee beans. The Caffea arabicais the Arabica coffee beans which is the quality coffee of the world. Arabica coffee is the only coffee that is to be drunk and enjoyed without being blended with other types of beans. This is one of the varieties that qualify as a gourmet coffee bean

Arabica coffee beans are native to northeastern Africa but is now grown throughout the world. The Arabica plant can grow to forty feet in the wild but is pruned in cultivation to eight feet to allow for harvesting of the beans. The plant does not bear fruit until the trees are 3 to 5 years of age but can produce coffee cherries for up to thirty years. Being a tropical plant, it prefers temperature ranges from the fifties to mid-seventies Fahrenheit. They thrive in areas with large amounts of rainfall and in altitudes between 3,000 to 6,500 feet. It is particularly prolific in the tropics of Central and South America.

The Arabica coffee beans accounts for about 70% of the world’s coffee production and is the most wildly grown species of coffee plant. Arabica coffee beans are the most expensive variety and are considered the premium and best tasting coffees of the world. The most renown coffees from Costa Rica, Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain are all highly prized Arabica coffee beans and produce a fine gourmet coffee bean.