The phrase coffee bean is actually a misnomer. In fact, the bean is actually the seed of the tree. Specifically, it is the seed from the fruit that the coffee trees produce, trees which can usually reach at least twenty feet. A few varieties found in the wild reach to over 45 feet in height. A majority of trees produce seeds in a pair. However, the peaberry variety produces seeds individually. The fruit of the tree looks a bit like a cranberry. The sugary pulp inside is enclosed in a membrane called the silverskin.

There is a swath of land around equator, that ranges from roughly 25 degrees north and south, where a vast majority of the world's coffee is grown. The right temperature for coffee growing is about 60F to 70F. The ideal rainfall for a thriving tree is at least six inches a month.

Soil that is loamy and drains well is necessary. High humidity is also necessary. The best coffee is grown at high elevations at which trees rest in mists and clouds. Because oxygen content decreases the higher up you go, the trees grow more slowly but have a richer output. The bean coffea arabica is grown at high altitudes and, as such, is a precious commodity.

Indirect light and moderate wind conditions aid coffee growth, and growers sometimes artificially create these conditions. Upon planting, the coffee tree takes roughly five years before it produces its first crop of beans. Even then, the tree will only grow two pounds of coffee in one season.

That equals roughly two thousand coffee seeds, and each pair is usually manually harvested by laborers. Bean harvesting is a job that requires some skill: the picker must be able to find the good beans and throw out the bad, over and over again. It is this need for manual labor that drives up the cost of coffee we need for our .

Coffee trees have wide leaves of deep green. The flower they produce resembles Jasmine. Some trees, especially in the western hemisphere, have gorgeous periods of blossom that last up to eight weeks. Coffee-growing regions clustered around the equator can have trees that produce mature berries and ripening berries that the same time.

From blossom to ripening, the growth of the seed can last up to nine months, depending on the climate of the region and the kind of tree. With the latest in cultivation techniques, growers are hopeful that a planting will yield almost seven thousand pounds to nine thousand 8,800 lbs per two and a half acres.

After the bean is harvested from these exotic regions, the berries are then transported and processed. In the end, they represent the second largest commodity in the world.