Terroir

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Temperature

T 1.07 Recap and Glossary

Recap

  • Plants convert energy from the sun into glucose via the Calvin cycle.
  • Plants use glucose to produce starch, sucrose, cellulose, proteins, and fats to use for long-term energy stores and structural growth.
  • The temperature of a farm is determined by a complex set of factors that determine how much solar radiation can reach the leaves of coffee plants.
  • Wild arabica grows at between 1000 and 2000 metres above sea level.
  • Frost can kill coffee plants, which can prevent coffee farming in areas outside the tropical belt.
  • The amount of shade cover reduces the amount of sunlight available to reach a plant.
  • Less-mature plants can tolerate less direct sunlight than established plants can — therefore, farmers often manipulate the amount of shade as plants mature.
  • The rainy season in the tropics usually corresponds with the times when the sun is directly overhead.
  • Albedo is the reflection of solar radiation from the Earth’s surface.
  • Different ground cover affects how much light is reflected. The lighter the surface, the higher the albedo percentage. Cloud cover can reflect as much as 80 percent of solar radiation.
  • Coffee plants are not well adapted to full-sun growing conditions.
  • ‘Shade-grown’ now describes around 24 percent of the land used for coffee farming.
  • Studies show that a shade level of between 35 percent and 50 percent is higher yielding.

 

Glossary

Embryo  The seed of a plant that has the potential to grow into a new plant. In coffee beans the embryo is located at the tip of a bean.

Endosperm  The thick cell walls composed of hemicellulose, which serves as food storage. This is mostly what we recognise as the coffee bean, minus the embryo.

Mesocarp  The slippery layer of thick pulp between the skin and parchment.

Organelles  structures within cells e.g. chloroplasts.

Ovary (botany) The ovary is located at the base of the pistil (the female reproductive part of a flower) and ripens into a fruit after fertilisation.