There are two main varieties of coffee plant - Arabica and Robusta. The best flavoured beans come from the Arabica tree grown high up on steep mountain slopes. The Robusta is a far sturdier plant growing in vast plantations on the lower slopes.

Coffee plants bear fruit when they are three to five-years-old. Although they can be fertile for more than 100 years, they yield their best fruit over the first 15 years. The ripe fruit is best picked by hand.

The ripe berries are known as 'cherries'. Each contains two coffee seeds surrounded by a protective husk. These are removed by machine and the beans are soaked and fermented. Their protective coverings are loosened, and washed away with fresh water. The beans are then dried in a machine or in the sun, and put into a huller to remove the skin. These 'polished' green beans are sorted, graded and packed into bags for shipping around the world.

Importers blend and roast many varieties of bean to produce different flavours of coffee.