Each region has its own unique growing conditions and harvesting methods, giving their coffees a distinct regional character. In the U.S., coffee has become the nation's most popular beverage. One-third of the world's coffee is consumed by Americans. Cultivation in the New World began in the 18th century. Although initial planting efforts were in the open sun, farmers increasingly began planting coffee in the shade of forest trees, or created a mixed community of coffee shrubs and other types of trees that provided additional income from fruit, firewood, and timber.
Most coffee is cultivated in small family farms.
The traditional coffee plantation looks a lot like the forest coffee shrubs are planted as part of the understory of other trees such as fruit trees, banana plants, and hardwood trees. The protective canopy of tall trees provides a stable local ecology, preventing soil erosion, regulating local temperatures to minimize large temperature fluctuations, and keeping the soil moist. Leaf litter from the trees is a source of natural fertile organic soil. Such plantations host a wide variety of wildlife that helps to keep pests at bay. Surveys by scientists at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, in Chiapas in southern Mexico, found as many as 180 species of birds in traditional coffee plantations.