Coffee bean Coffee bean A coffee bean is a seed of the coffee plant and the source for coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit. Even though the coffee beans are seeds, they are referred to as "beans" because of their resemblance to true beans. The fruits – coffee cherries or coffee berries – most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together. A small percentage of cherries contain a single seed, instead of the usual two. This
History of coffee reference to the drink's reputation as an appetite suppressant. The word "qahwah" is sometimes alternatively traced to the Arabic "quwwa" ("power, energy"), or to Kaffa, a medieval kingdom in Ethiopia whence the plant was exported to Arabia. These etymologies for "qahwah" have all been disputed, however. The name "qahwah" is not used for the berry or plant (the products of the region), which are known in Arabic as "bunn" and in Oromo as "būn". Semitic had a root "qhh" "dark color", which became a natural designation for the beverage. According to this analysis, the feminine form "qahwah" (also meaning "dark