The Development Status and Derivatives of Robusta Coffee Beans

If you're a regular coffee drinker, you've likely heard of Robusta coffee, perhaps even known by its nickname "Robusta beans." Despite its fame, it's often perceived as "poor quality" and "unpleasant" coffee, while people tend to prefer another popular variety—Arabica. Why is this the case? In today's article, FrontStreet Coffee will guide you through understanding this coffee variety that has always carried a "stigma."

The Origins of Robusta

Robusta, with the Latin scientific name "Coffee Robusta Linden," is one of the principal coffee varieties widely cultivated worldwide and serves as an important raw material for popular coffee products in today's market.

In the late nineteenth century, the natural enemy of coffee trees, leaf rust disease, caused Arabica coffee plants to wither and even die in large areas. At that time, farmers tried planting Liberica to solve this problem, but the yield was too low, and the flavor was heavy with a strong smoky taste that wasn't easily accepted by the public, so it didn't receive much attention. Later, people discovered Robusta. FrontStreet Coffee has learned that Robusta originated from areas around Uganda and Congo in Africa. This variety has strong resistance to pests and diseases, excellent adaptability to growing environments, and grows quickly, making it favored by many farmers.

Biological Characteristics

From a biological perspective, Robusta belongs to the Coffea canephora species, also known as Congo species or medium-fruit coffee. Just as we often hear about Geisha, which belongs to the Arabica species, only Robusta within the Coffea canephora species has been promoted for commercial cultivation, so Robusta has almost become synonymous with the entire Coffea canephora lineage. Timor and Catimor, varieties derived from natural hybridization between Robusta and Arabica, are now widely cultivated and classified under the broader Arabica category.

In terms of cultivation, Robusta coffee trees can tolerate high temperatures, cold, drought, and humidity, with extremely high survival rates. Their caffeine content is high (1.7%~3.0%), about twice that of Arabica. Caffeine serves as a natural pesticide for plants, protecting Robusta from most insect damage. A single Robusta plant produces a high yield of fruit, which is slightly rounder and smaller than Arabica coffee fruits. The beans are flat and round with a straight groove in the center.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Because of Robusta's tenacious vitality, high yield, fast maturation, and strong adaptability to the environment, it can generally be planted in low-altitude plains and managed and harvested directly through mechanization. Therefore, the production costs required for Robusta cultivation are lower, making it more suitable for commercial mass production, and naturally, the selling price is cheaper. For example, the vast majority of coffee grown in Hainan, China, is Robusta beans. Despite these advantages, why do people still look down on this variety and even dislike the hybrid varieties derived from Robusta and Arabica?

Through scientific testing and analysis, Robusta coffee beans have been found to contain extremely high levels of chlorogenic acid and lower sugar content. Chlorogenic acid is the source of bitterness in coffee, while sucrose is the precursor to the various aromatic substances we perceive in coffee. Therefore, Robusta beans typically have low acidity, with a mellow and deeper bitterness, and a flavor profile including walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, barley tea, and grains. When not processed properly, they can also exhibit strong, earthy flavors with rubber-like negative textures—what everyone calls the "Robusta flavor."

Applications in Coffee Culture

Deep-roasted Robusta beans accumulate a large amount of gas, which releases rich crema when extracted into espresso, and the solid texture also provides more mellow aroma to the coffee. We all know that traditional coffee flavors tend toward strong bitterness and mellowness, without much acidity, which aligns with the flavor characteristics of deep-roasted Robusta beans. This is also why Robusta continues to survive in the current specialty coffee era. For example, in Italy, locals mainly pursue the strong taste and rich crema of coffee. Many coffee shops appropriately add a certain proportion of Robusta beans when formulating espresso blends, enriching the crema while also enhancing its "coffee flavor."

FrontStreet Coffee's Perspective

Reading this far, I wonder if you, like FrontStreet Coffee, want to personally taste the flavor of Robusta coffee. However, top-quality Robusta coffee requires more investment in production, so the selling price is high. Moreover, the overall flavor of Robusta beans is rich and intense, not within everyone's acceptable range, so FrontStreet Coffee suggests that you can start with espresso blended with Robusta beans.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, deep-roasted Robusta produces abundant crema during extraction. Therefore, to present rich and aromatic crema in two espresso blend coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee has added 10% washed Robusta coffee beans to them. Combined with Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian natural process coffee (60%), they form FrontStreet Coffee's commercial blend coffee beans. The resulting espresso has abundant golden crema and nutty aroma. When tasting, you'll experience the fragrant bitterness of coffee, but more prominently, a creamy full-bodied texture. After swallowing, the bitterness dissipates, leaving a lingering fragrance.

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