Rainfall patterns and dry seasons
This topic explores how rainfall distribution and dry seasons affect coffee flowering, fruit development, and harvest cycles, and why water availability is critical to both yield and quality.
Lasting importance
Altitude and temperature gradients
This topic explains how altitude and temperature gradients shape coffee growth, yield, and flavor, and why these environmental factors are crucial to terroir and quality expression.
Latitude and the Coffee Belt
This topic introduces the concept of the Coffee Belt—the latitudinal zone where coffee grows best—explaining its geographic range, climatic conditions, and why it is central to global coffee production.
Breeding goals: quality, yield, resilience
This topic explains the main goals of modern coffee breeding—improving cup quality, increasing yield, and enhancing resilience—and how these often competing priorities shape the future of coffee.
Terroir expression by cultivar
This topic explains how different coffee cultivars express terroir—the interaction of genetics with environment—shaping cup profiles, identity, and consumer appreciation of origin.
Clonal vs seed propagation
This topic explains the two main methods of propagating coffee—clonal propagation and seed propagation—highlighting their differences, advantages, disadvantages, and implications for coffee farming.