Sharon Bowen, 15, of Indianapolis, Ind., for her question:
HOW DOES COFFEE GROW?
Coffee was originally found growing wild in Ethiopia. Legend says that it was discovered when goatherds noticed that their flocks stayed awake all night after feeding on coffee leaves and berries. Coffee reached Arabia in the 1200s and then moved to Turkey during the 1500s and to Italy in the early 1600s. It was introduced into the Americas about 2660.
Coffee's scientific name is Coffea arabica. It is a plant now cultivated in Java, Sumatra, India, Arabia, equatorial Africa, Hawaii, Mexico, the West Indies and Central and South America. Coffee growing was introduced into Brazil in the 1700s, and that country is now the world's leading coffee producer.
The coffee shrub has glossy, evergreen leaves and reaches a height of 14 to 20 feet. It is also called a coffee tree. Growers usually prune it to under 12 feet. The plant's flowers are white.
The coffee berry begins to grow while the plant is blossoming. The berries change in color from green to yellow to red as they ripen. The average coffee tree bears enough berries each year to make about a pound and a half of roasted coffee.
A coffee tree is usually 5 years old before it will bear a full crop. The common variety grows best at altitudes between 2,000 and 6,000 feet. The climate must be tropical, however. Most trees grow from seeds that are first planted in nurseries. After a year, the small plants are moved to prepared fields.
All coffee berries must be hand picked. No machine has been developed that will do the picking job satisfactorily.
Once picked, coffee berries are put through a bath of running water where all sticks, leaves and green and bad berries float to the top. The good ones stay on the bottom.
More than 100 different coffee types are sold in the United States, where every year more than 415 billion cups of the brew are consumed. The coffee break is a way of life in America now. One third of the world's crop each year is purchased for consumption in the United States. This adds up to 2.75 billion pounds of coffee each year.
Coffee contains caffeine, a drug that acts as a stimulant to mental and physical energy. Doctors say the drink tends to expand blood vessels mildly so that more blood flows to the heart and brain.
More than 3 billion pounds of coffee are produced each year by Brazil, the world's leading producer. Next in production is Colombia followed in order by the Ivory Coast, Angola, Mexico, Uganda, E1 Salvador, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Guatemala. Brazil's part of the production is equal to about 30 percent of the world's coffee.
Following the United States in leading coffee ¬consuming countries are France, Italy, The Netherlands and ICI West Germany.