n.
Tropical evergreen shrub of the genus Coffea , in the madder family , or its seeds, called beans; also the beverage made by brewing the roasted and ground beans with water.
Two of the 25 or more species, C. arabica and C. canephora , supply almost all the world's coffee. Arabica coffee is considered to brew a more flavourful and aromatic beverage than Robusta, the main variety of C. canephora . Arabicas are grown in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Indonesia, Robustas mainly in Africa. The shrub bears bouquets of small white flowers with a jasminelike fragrance. The fruit, 0.50.75 in. (1319 mm) long and red when mature, is called a cherry. Coffee contains large amounts of caffeine , the effects of which have always been an important element in the drink's popularity. Coffee drinking began in 15th-century Arabia. It reached Europe by the mid 17th century and immediately became hugely popular. Coffee is now consumed by about one-third of the world's population.