Coffee is a very difficult plant to grow and is cultivated only in the area near the equator called the "coffee belt" in the world. In order to grow coffee well, the environment must meet the following four conditions.
·soil
Growing coffee trees requires well-drained, slightly acidic and fertile soil. Fertile soil for coffee trees is soil that contains moderate amounts of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium. Nitrogen affects tree growth, phosphoric acid affects coffee flowers and fruits, and potassium affects root growth. To do. In particular, volcanic ash soil is said to be the most suitable because it is rich in these components.
·temperature
Coffee trees are vulnerable to cold and die if the temperature stays below 5 degrees Celsius, so the average temperature should be around 20 degrees Celsius. Moreover, it is desirable to have areas where the temperature difference between day and night is large. Therefore, many people who have been to coffee producing areas say that it was a more comfortable and comfortable place to live than in Japan.
·Precipitation amount
It is also important to be in a rainy area to grow coffee trees, and it is said that the annual rainfall required is about 1500 mm to 2500 mm . Since the rainfall in Japan is about 1700 mm per year, it must be a region where it rains a little more than in Japan. In addition, coffee needs to be dry when it is harvested, so it can only be grown in areas where there is a period of dry season as well as rainy season.
・ Amount of sunshine
Coffee trees like sunlight, so they need a certain amount of sunlight. However, if you are exposed to too much sunlight, the leaves will burn and die. Therefore, in the coffee producing area, a tall tree (shade tree) is planted right next to it to adjust the amount of sunlight that the coffee tree is exposed to. From these things, we can see that coffee is a very delicate plant.