Sequence variation analysis of promoter and coding regions of DREB1D gene from 16 coffee plants (10 from C. Arabica and 4 from C. canephora), displaying different phenotypes (tolerance vs.susceptibility) regarding to drought, indicated a low level of diversity at protein level but a high level of diversity in the promoters within coffee plants. Furthermore, we found several indications of association between drought tolerance and the genetic variations on DREB1D promoter region, but not with those from the coding region. A comparison of predicted cis-acting elements for all the promoter sequences suggest the DREB1Dis evolving by the rearrangement of cis-regulatory elements and, as result the alteration of expression patterns of this gene might play a fundamental role on drought adaptation in coffee. Three haplotypes of DREB1D loci likely to be associated to contrasting phenotypes regarding to drought, H_16 and H_15 (tolerant), and H_17 (susceptible) are under characterization by homologous transformation in C. arabica.