Worldwide, more than 26 million small coffee producers in more than 52 coffee-producing countries rely on the beans as their principal income. In North America and Europe, people consume more than a third as much coffee as they do water. In the United States alone, Americans consume over 400 million cups of coffee per day, making it the world’s biggest consumer of the beverage.

Global coffee consumption has increased steadily since the turn of the century. In 2014, there were nearly 142 million bags of coffee exported, weighing over 132 pounds each.

Investors looking to make savvy trades must pay very close attention to what is going on (such as weather and politics) in the two largest producers of coffee in the world: Brazil and Vietnam. For instance, a major frost during the growing season in Brazil can send prices skyrocketing. The four biggest upward spikes in coffee prices – 1975-1977, 1985-1986, 1994 and 1997 – were all due to such an event.

Geopolitics and economics can also come into play. Farmers can decide to hold back their crop due to low prices and in turn send robusta bean prices higher. Or, as also happened in 2012, a fall in the Brazilian currency (the real) forced Brazilian farmers to dump their product on the market, forcing down arabica prices.

As such, the factors affecting the price of coffee fall into four general categories: weather conditions, geopolitical conditions (particularly in Brazil and Vietnam), transportation costs, and consumer discretionary income. Higher oil prices, for example, can lead directly to higher shipping costs, putting upward pressure on coffee prices.

Consumer discretionary incomes are also another major factor since coffee drinking is not a necessity (at least to most). The financial and debt crisis in Europe, for example, may adversely affect coffee consumption in those regions as individuals will be more concerned with saving money than spending it on a cup of Joe. However, rising discretionary incomes in the emerging countries offer the potential for rising coffee demand overall. Take Brazil, for example; coffee consumption there is rising quite rapidly. Further, the arrival of coffee culture in Asian countries like China is another demand driver [see also How to Trade Coffee Futures].

There are several ways to invest in this commodity, including futures contracts on coffee beans and exchange-traded notes designed to track the performance of futures contracts.

Coffee drinkers today have a vast array of flavors to choose from. But there are only two types of coffee beans traded on global financial markets. The first type of coffee bean is the robusta, which is considered to be of lower quality and usually ends up as instant coffee. Most of this variety of coffee is grown in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as parts of Africa. It is a hardier bean and can be grown at altitudes up to 2,000 feet [see also Four Little Known Factors Driving the Price of Coffee].

The futures contracts for robusta coffee beans are traded on the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) and through the Euronext Exchange (symbol RC). The contract size for robusta is 10 tons and the minimum price movement is $1 per ton or $10. The delivery months for the contracts are January, March, May, July, September and November such that ten delivery months are available for trading. The trading hours are 9:00 a.m.to 5:30 p.m. London time and the last trading day is the last business day of the delivery month at 12:30 pm London time.

The second type of coffee bean is the arabica, which makes up over 60% of global coffee production. This bean produces the better tasting coffees, such as espressos, that can be found at coffee shops. It is grown in high elevations, usually above 3,000 feet, where the coffee develops more slowly and is subject to frosts. It is mainly grown in tropical countries such as Brazil and Columbia [see also 50 Ways To Invest In Agriculture].

Investors can find the futures contracts (symbol KT) on arabica coffee beans traded on either the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) or the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The contract size for arabica is 37,500 pounds and the minimum price movement is $0.05 per pound or $18.75 per contract. The delivery months for the contract are March, May, July, September and December. The main trading hours in New York are 3:30 am to 2:00 pm and the last trading day is eight business days prior to the last business day of the delivery month.

Investors can also participate in the ups and downs of the global coffee market through the use of two exchange-traded notes (ETNs) from iPath.

The first pure play choice is the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Subindex Total Return ETN (JO) designed to track the movement of coffee futures. However, there are risk factors: ETNs expose the investor to credit risk from the issuer of the note, in this case Barclays Bank. Another possible risk factor is the shape of the coffee futures curve.

A second similar ETN from iPath is the Pure Beta Coffee ETN (CAFE). The only difference here is that there is no pre-set rollover schedule for the futures contracts. The fund manager may roll over into one of a number of futures contracts with varying expiration dates, as selected using a methodology designed by Barclays.

Both of these ETNs are traded on the NYSE Arca, making it very easy for the average investor to access exposure to one of the world’s most interesting commodity markets.

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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.