1. Cocoa tree and coffee tree
1. Cocoa, native to tropical America, can be used for beverages and chocolate candies, rich in nutrients, mellow and fragrant. Cocoa beans are the fruit of the cocoa tree. As early as before Columbus arrived in the United States, the inhabitants of tropical Central America, especially the Mayans and Aztecs, knew the use of cocoa beans. They not only made cocoa beans into beverages, but also used them as trades. medium. In the 16th century, cocoa beans were introduced to Europe and refined into cocoa powder and chocolate; cocoa butter was also extracted.
Chocolate as we know it now is made from cocoa beans made of cocoa powder and then added with sugar, milk, peanuts and other accessories. It has nothing to do with coffee.
2. Coffee is a perennial evergreen shrub or small tree of Rubiaceae. It is a horticultural perennial economic crop. The appearance of mature coffee berries is like a cherry, bright red, with sweet flesh, Contains a pair of seeds, namely Coffee Beans.
After the coffee beans are de-pulped, washed, roasted, etc., they become the coffee beans we see now. The coffee beans are ground into powder and the coffee is extracted with different equipment.
2. The difference between coffee beans and cocoa beans
1. Cocoa fruit, up to 35 cm in length and 12 in diameter cm, ovate, with 10 ridges on the surface, yellow-brown to purple. Cocoa berries contain 20 to 40 seeds (cocoa beans). The beans are about 2.5 cm long and are encased in a pink, sticky pulp. After 4 years of cultivation, the cocoa tree produces 60 to 70 fruits per plant each year. Anyway, it is “Mature cocoa-fruit pod containing cocoa beans”, which should mean “cocoa beans are in the cocoa fruit”!
2. Coffee fruit, the fruit is a berry with sweet flesh, also known as comb fruit. Oval, 9-14 mm long, green young fruit, red when ripe, purple-red. Each fruit generally has two seeds, but also one or three seeds, which are semi-oval in shape and have a longitudinal groove, called the abdominal groove. Ripe coffee berries are cherry-shaped, bright red, and have a sweet flesh that contains a pair of seeds, or coffee beans. After the coffee beans are de-pulped, washed, roasted, etc., they become the coffee beans we see now. After grinding the coffee beans into powder, we can use different equipment to extract the coffee we use every day.
In general, coffee beans grow on branches, a coffee berry is broken and there are two coffee beans in it, while cocoa berries grow on the trunk, and a cocoa berry is like a football About the same size, there are about 20-70 cocoa beans. In terms of crop picking period, coffee trees are harvested once a year, and cocoa fruits are harvested every two years. The biggest thing they have in common is that their climate requirements are similar.
