All species of coffee trees can be sorted in two basic categories. Although there are several more varieties of each group, dividing them into these two main categories make it easy to understand the difference between gourmet and ordinary coffee.To put it simply, high quality blends consist of one hundred percent Arabica beans while lower quality, cheaper blends may consist partly or one hundred percent Robusta beans. Arabica beans produce more flavorful, superior taste that it’s counterpart. Robusta has a more bitter taste and less body. Now you see why the brew has to consist of pure Arabica beans to be called high-quality.
Why use Robusta then? There are many reasons why these beans are around. First, Robusta coffee trees produce crops within just two years of being planted while Arabica trees take four or five years to produce cherries. Economical concerns cause farmers to keep growing them. Also, Robusta trees grow under a wider variety of conditions than the Arabica. It has better tolerance of the cold and grows just fine in different altitudes. Second, Robusta will always be bought cheaper and can be sold to less discriminating customers as “supermarket coffee” because they can be brewed and dried to make instant coffee. They’re also often used in blends mixed with Arabica beans which is cheaper for roasters but gives them the ability to claim their brews contain Arabica beans. Lastly, Robusta beans have higher caffeine levels than Arabica that fuel the addiction a lot of us already have.
Arabica beans on the other hand grow a lot slower than Robusta therefore it’s one of the reasons it’s priced so high. They can’t grow just anywhere, there’s a demand for precise temparature and annual rainfall. Also, they tend to produce the best beans in higher altitudes. As a matter of fact, the higher the altitude the more expensive it gets. This is because it’s said to contain more substances making coffee out of it so complexly flavorful. Maybe it’s because they grow slower higher up the mountain they’re planted. There’s a wide variety of Arabica beans grown all over the world. There’s variations in flavor affected by factors like weather, altitude, soil and whether there are trees around the plantation providing some shade. Flavor can also be affected by the methods by which they are processed, how beans are taken out of the cherries, etc. It’s these varied characteristics that makes the Arabica beans most sought after by the finer, smaller roasters.
You might contest, don’t the French and Italians use Robusta beans to make the finest coffee blends? Yes that is true. This is where “to each his own” come to play. In those parts of the world, they like it the way they make it. French coffee has part Arabica beans and so does Italian coffee. The characteristics of Robusta mentioned above might as well be the reason they like it better. Again, to each his own.
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