Growing coffee is very hard work. When the coffee bushes are planted, it takes 4 to 5 years before they produce any fruit.

When the coffee is ripe, the fruit on the bushes is bright red and looks like cherries.

The growers have to harvest the coffee cherries by hand. Everybody helps at harvest time.

The coffee cherries are now ready for processing.

These farmers are using a hand –cranked machine to remove the skin from the coffee cherries.

These beans are ready to be sold to the coffee exporter.

The coffee exporters visit the coffee growers and buy their coffee beans.

The exporters weigh the green coffee beans and pack them into bags. They transport them to the coast where they sell them to a shipping company.

Shippers buy bags of green coffee beans from the exporter and load them onto ships.

Ships transport bags of green coffee beans to Europe and America. Then the coffee is sold to the coffee roasters.

The roasters buy the green coffee beans from the shippers and then they roast and process them. They mix the different varieties to get a blend.

The roasters need to provide attractive packaging to advertise their brand to the public.

Coffee roasters sell their coffee to the retailers. They transport it to supermarkets and coffee shops.

The retailers buy the coffee from the roasters. They price it and display it on the shelves of the supermarket for the customers to buy.

The retailers have to stock many brands and many types of coffee: instant coffee, filter coffee, and espresso coffee are some examples. Retailers supply what the customer wants.

Many people worked very hard to bring you this cup of coffee.

Report prepared by Julien, Allan, John and Kouhei.