Botanical name : Coffea Arabica Linn.
Family : Rubiaceae
SANSKRIT SYNONYMS
Rajapeelu
AYURVEDIC PROPERTIES
Rasa : Tikta, Kashaya
Guna : Lakhu, Rooksha
Virya : Ushna
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES :
English : Coffee tree. Arabian coffee
Hindi : Caphi, Pilu
Malayalam : Kappi
PLANT DESCRIPTION :
A glabrous large shrub with spreading branches. Leaves simple, opposite, stipulate, shiny, oblong, acuminate, flowers white, numerous, fragrant, found in leaf axils. Fruits are fleshy berries, purple when ripe, seeds concave, grooved vertically
Useful part : Seeds.
Cultivation : Propagation is usually by seed; however, budding, grafting, and cuttings have been used. Traditional method of plants on virgin soil is to put 20 seeds In each hole 3.5 x 3.5m at the beginning of rainy season. Half are eliminated naturally. In Brazil, a more successful method is to raise seedlings in shaded nurseries. At 6-12 months, seedlings are taken to fields, hardened, and then planted on contoured fields 2-3 m apart in 3-5 m rows. Holes are prepared 40 x 40 x 40 cm and 4 seedlings placed in each. Plants may be shaded by taller trees or left undshaded. Coffee is often intercropped with food crops, such as corn, beans, or rice, during the first few years. Clean weed control is necessary throughout the entire season. Pruning is common practice in some districts. Mulches and green manure are commonly used with chemical fertilizers coming more and more into use. Typical application consists of 175 g N per bush, 100 g P, and 175 g K. P and K added in two applicationa and N added over a longer period with 4-5 applications. Other elements added as soils require them. Shading tends to favor leaf and shoot growth at the expense of root growth. It may be useful when plants are young, but later shading may reduce yields, especially when the trees are fertilized.
Harvesting : Average economic age of plants 30-40 years, with some 100 year old plantations still bearing. Trees come into bearing 3-4 years after planting and are in full bearing at 6-8 years. Fruits mature 7-9 months after flowering. Selective picking of ripe red fruits produces highest quality. Crop ripens over a period of several weeks. In Brazil all berries are stripped at one time onto ground cloths, usually in April to June; in Ethiopia, harvest season is October to December after the rainy season. Berries are dried in sun; in some humid areas, artificial heat is used. Depulping after picking is increasingly practiced.
Chemistry :In humans, caffeine, 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, is demethylated into three primary metabolites: theophylline, theobromine, and paraxanthine. Since the early part of the 20th century, theophylline has been used in therapeutics for bronchodilation, for acute ventricular failure, and for long-term control of bronchial asthma. At 100 mg/kg theophylline is fetotoxic to rats, but no teratogenic abnormalities were noted. In therapeutics, theobromine has been used as a diuretic, as a cardiac stimulant, and for dilation of arteries. But at 100 mg, theobromine is fetotoxic and teratogen (Collins, FDA By-lines No. 2, April 1981). Leung (1980) reports a fatal dose in man at 10,000 mg, with 1,000 mg or more capable of inducing headache, nausea, insomnia, restlessness, excitement, mild delirium, muscle tremor, tachycardia, and extrasystoles. Leung also adds "caffeine has been reported to have many other activities including mutagenic, teratogenic, and carcinogenic activities; ... to cause temporary increase in intraocular pressure, to have calming effects on hyperkinetic children...to cause chronic recurring headache... Coffee drinking has also been linked to myocardial infarction... cancer of the lower urinary tract (e.g. bladder), ovaries, prostrate, and others." Most of these reports have been challenged (Leung, 1980). According to Tiscornia et al (Rev. Ital. Sostanze Grasse 56(8): 283. 1979) the sterol fraction of coffee seed oil contains 45.4-56.6% sitosterol, 19.6-24.5% stigmasterol, 14.8-18.7% campesterol, 1.9-14.6% 5-avenasterol, 0.6-6.6% 7-stigmasterol, and traces of cholesterol and 7-avenasterol. Coffee pulp is a valuable cattle feed, unpalatable to cattle at first. The pulp is comparable to corn in total protein, and superior to it in calcium and phosphorus content. In India, cattle feed on the pulp with no apparent ill effects. The ash of "cherry" husk is rich in potash and therefore forms a valuable manure. Air dry coffee pulp contains 1.34% N, 0.11% phosphoric acid (P2O5) and 1.5% potash (K2O). After composting these values change to 0.91% N, 0.31% P2O5, 0.71% K2O (C.S.I.R., 1948-1976). Leaves and reject seed may also be used as compost. Leaves are reported to contain, per 100 g, 300 calories, 6.4% water, 9.3% protein, 5.5 g fat, 66.6 g total carbohydrate, 17.5 g fiber, 12.2 g ash, 1910 mg Ca, 170 mg P, 96.6 mg Fe, 2360 ug carotene equivalent, 0.00 mg thiamine, 0.21 mg riboflavin, and 5.2 mg niacin. Seeds contain per 100 g, 203 calories, 6.3% water, 11.7 g protein, 10.8 g fat, 68.2 g total carbohydrate, 22.9 g fiber, 3.0 g ash, 120 mg Ca, 178 mg P, 2.9 mg Fe, 20 4 beta-carotene equivalent, 0.22 mg thiamine, 0.6 mg riboflavin, and 1.3 mg niacin (Duke, 1981b). Raw coffee contains ca 10% oil and wax extractable with petroleum ether. The fatty acids consist chiefly of linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acids, together with smaller amounts of myristic, stearic, and arachidic acids. From the unsaponifiable matter, a phytosterol, sitosterol, cafesterol, caffeol, and tocopherol have been isolated. Among the identified components of the volatile oil present in roasted coffee are: acetaldehyde, furan, furfuraldehyde, furfuryl alcohol, pyridine, hydrogen sulphide, diacetyl, methyl mercaptan, furfuryl mercaptan, dimethyl sulphide, acetylpropionyl, acetic acid, guaiacol, vinyl guaiacol, pyrazine, n-methylpyrrole, and methyl carbinol. All these substances do not preexist in the unroasted coffee beans; some are undoubtedly the products of the roasting process and others are produced by the decomposition of the more complex precursors (C.S.I.R., 1948-1976).
Traditional Uses :Dried seeds "beans" are roasted, ground, and brewed to make one of the two most important beverages in the western world. In its native Ethiopia, used as a masticatory since ancient times, it is also cooked in butter to make rich flat cakes. In Arabia a fermented drink from the pulp is consumed. Coffee is widely used as a flavoring, as in ice cream, pastries, candies, and liqueurs. Source of caffeine, dried ripe seeds are used as a stimulant, nervine, and diuretic, acting on central nervous system, kidneys, heart, and muscles. Indonesians and Malaysians prepare an infusion from dried leaves. Coffee pulp and parchment used as manures and mulches, and is occasionally fed to cattle in India. Coffelite, a type of plastic, made from coffee beans. Wood is hard, dense, durable, takes a good polish, and is suitable for tables, chairs, and turnery. Coffee with iodine is used as a deodorant. Caffeine has been described as a natural herbicide, selectively inhibiting germination of seeds of Amaranthus spinosus. Caffeine is a widespread additive in over-the-counter diet pills, pain killers, and stimulants
USES :Reported to be analgesic, anaphrodisiac, anorexic, antidotal, cardiotonic, CNS-stimulant, counterirritant, diuretic, hypnotic, lactagogue, nervine, stimulant, coffee is a folk remedy for asthma, atropine-poisoning, fever, gout, diarrhea, cough, and hysteriaflu, headache, jaundice, malaria, migraine, narcosis, nephrosis, opium-poisoning, sores, and vertigo
Toxicity : As a long term drinker of 5-10 cups of coffee a day, I do not think I do myself any favors by drinking the coffee. Still I will quote some of the alarming things I have read. Tyler (1982) cites "some evidence linking coffee and cancer of the pancreas." "...Caffeine...in large amounts produces many undesirable side effects--from nervousness and insomnia to rapid and irregular heartbeats, elevated blood sugar and cholesterol levels, excess stomach acid, and heartburn. It is definitely a teratogen in rats" (Tyler, 1982). Michael Jacobson cites numerous studies on pregnant animals and humans in which the equivalent of 3-4 daily cups of coffee caused birth defects such as cleft palate and missing bones (Washington Star, December 20, 1978). I am seeking from MMWR documentation for a rumor I heard that several people were killed in one year by colonic irrigation with coffee, more than were killed by all other herbs combined that year (excluding alcohol, cocaine, heroine, marijuana, and tobacco). In some individuals, caffeine causes nervousness, restlessness, excitement and insomnia. Patients with peptic ulcers, hypertension, and other cardiovascular and nervous disorders are usually advised by their physicians to refrain from drinking coffee. Chlorogenic acid may induce rhinitis and dermatitis in workers engaged, in roasting, sorting, or grinding coffee (Morton, 1977). Mitchell and Rook (1979) note that the role of chlorogenic acid in the respiratory symptoms were discounted. Still workers develop asthma, dermatitis, rhinitis, and urticaria. Inhalation of coffee bean dust can produce coffee worker's lung, a type of allergic alveolitis. Coffee extracts are GRAS but the GRAS status of caffeine is being reassessed.
