What is the Coffee Belt?

The Coffee Belt has nothing to do with fashion – it is not something you wear while drinking coffee! Rather, the Coffee Belt refers to the equatorial regions of the planet where coffee can be grown most easily. This area includes many coffee- producing countries. 

Why Does Coffee Grow Well in the Coffee Belt?

Coffee plants have specific needs in order to flourish. These requirements include rich soil, mild temperatures, high humidity, and, in some cases, altitude. For example, Arabica coffee is grown in mountainous regions that provide just the right balance of sun, clouds, and day/night temperature differences. 

In countries like Colombia and Ethiopia, coffee is commonly grown at high elevations of over 1,800 meters (5,905 feet). High-altitude coffee is generally considered top quality for the effect the elevation gives to the flavor of a cup. Much of the Coffee Belt also comes with a wet season (regions closer to the equator experience more than one). Coffee plants are picky, which is why they want a rainy and a dry season.

However, not all coffees in the Coffee Belt come from high elevations. Most notably, Brazil’s coffees are grown at much lower elevations than this. In fact, the first place coffee in Brazil’s 2020 Cup of Excellence was produced at a mere 850 meters (2,789 feet) above sea level.

Robusta coffee plants are more easily cultivated at lower elevations because they can tolerate sun and drought better than Arabica plants.

How Did Coffee Get Started in the Coffee Belt?

The commercial cultivation of coffee began in Yemen, where coffee plants from Ethiopia - widely considered the birthplace of coffee and where coffee grows wild – arrived prior to the 15th century.

What Else Grows in the Coffee Belt?

Many wonderful things other than coffee grow in the tropics, including avocados, bananas, and pineapples. And let's not forget cacao - a plant some refer to as coffee’s best friend – which also grows in the Coffee Belt – only it is called the Cacao Belt!

Is Coffee Grown Outside the Coffee Belt?

Coffee enthusiasts who grow coffee as a hobby have grown coffee outside of the Coffee Belt, but it just isn’t practical to cultivate coffee on a large scale in these other areas. However, this may evolve if climate change warms regions further from the equator. This is not a shift that most of us are looking forward to.

How Is Climate Change Affecting the Coffee Belt?

Unfortunately, the Coffee Belt is very susceptible to climate change and is already seeing its effects. In the last several decades, temperatures have risen and rainfall has become less abundant in equatorial regions. Even a slight increase in heat has a deleterious effect on coffee farms. And, higher temperatures combined with less rain allows for the proliferation of threats to the coffee plants, such as the coffee borer beetle and coffee leaf rust disease. 

Scientists warn that by 2050, the amount of usable coffee growing land in the Coffee Belt could be reduced to around fifty percent of what it is today.

Buying Coffee From the Coffee Belt

The Operant Coffee online shop has several blends of high-quality Fair Trade Certified coffee for you to choose from!