Coffee is a tropical plant which grows between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn but requires very specific environmental conditions for commercial cultivation. Temperature, rainfall, sunlight, wind and soils are all important, but requirements vary according to the varieties grown. All coffee neesd good drainage, but it can grow on soils of different depths, pH and mineral content, given suitable applications of fertilizer. Coffee comes from the Latin form of the genus Coffea, a member of the Rubiaceae family which includes more than 500 genera and 6,000 species of tropical trees and shrubs. Other members of the family include the gardenias and plants which yield quinine and other useful substances, but Coffea is by far the most important member of the family economically.

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