Is Arabica Coffee Bean American Black Coffee? Is it Delicious? Benefits and Disadvantages of Drinking Coffee

Many coffee products are labeled as "100% Arabica" to emphasize their use of high-quality coffee beans, which also means better flavor. In fact, most of the coffee we drink daily, such as pour-over black coffee, Americano, latte, and other popular beverages, are made using Arabica beans. This is naturally because Arabica tastes better~

Arabica is a Coffee Variety

Coffee is an agricultural crop that bears cherry-like fruits after flowering, which is why coffee fruits are also called "coffee cherries." What we call coffee beans are actually the seeds inside the fruit after removing the pulp. Coffee originated in Ethiopia and was initially used primarily as medicine. Later, people developed the habit of roasting and drinking it. In the sixteenth century, Arabs spread it worldwide through trade, gradually developing it into the popular beverage we know today.

Currently, there are two main coffee varieties used for commercial cultivation: Arabica and Robusta. Growing regions are generally distributed within the coffee belt between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Both Robusta and Arabica coffee are suitable for cultivation within this coffee belt. As a tropical crop, coffee requires relatively high and stable temperatures, abundant annual rainfall and sunlight, and fertile, well-drained soil—all suitable conditions for growing coffee trees. The coffee belt covers about 70 countries and regions worldwide, of which about 50 have climate and other conditions suitable for coffee bean growth, making them coffee-producing countries. Like China's Yunnan and Hainan provinces, they are also located within the coffee belt, making them very suitable for coffee tree cultivation.

As the main variety of world coffee beans, Arabica needs to grow at elevations of 800-2200 meters in frost-free highlands. The higher altitude creates larger temperature differences, which slows down the maturation of coffee fruits and is more conducive to the accumulation of flavor compounds, developing more solid aroma characteristics. Each coffee region possesses unique microclimates that provide diverse growing conditions for Arabica, developing region-specific terroir flavors.

Why Prioritize Arabica?

The reason people emphasize the Arabica variety is because there exists another coffee variety with less appealing flavor—Robusta.

Robusta, more accurately known as the Canephora species, is medium-bean coffee. Today, humans have discovered that only one variety within the Canephora species, called Robusta, is suitable for commercial cultivation, and it has since been referred to directly as Robusta for this medium-bean coffee.

Arabica has lower caffeine content, about 0.9% to 1.2%, 60% more fat content than Robusta coffee, and twice the sugar content. Therefore, Arabica tastes relatively sweet and mild, with a hint of fruit acidity. Robusta's flavor is not as pleasing as Arabica's—it tastes more bitter and intense, with some woody and barley tea notes. Its only sensory advantage is its very full-bodied, textured mouthfeel. It currently accounts for 25% of global coffee production. Most of these beans are used as raw materials for instant coffee, with a small portion appearing as coffee blends or specialty beans. Most of the coffee we drink in shops is made using Arabica coffee beans due to their rich aromas and diverse flavors, making them suitable for various extraction methods including espresso, pour-over coffee, and cold brew.

Arabica Coffee Bean Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's bean shelf features a high-value daily drink series, carefully selecting 7 excellent classic coffee regions, covering multiple highly representative regions, varieties, and natural processing methods. The so-called daily drink beans, as the name suggests, are varieties that can be consumed daily without burden, with both price and flavor being very approachable. FrontStreet Coffee has selected multiple "flagship representatives" to help everyone recognize the basic flavors of major regions. These include Ethiopian washed Yirgacheffe, Guatemalan washed Huehuetenango, Colombian washed Huila, Brazilian semi-washed Cerrado, Costa Rican washed Tarrazú, Indonesian wet-hulled Lintong Mandheling, and Chinese Yunnan washed Baoshan.

Each daily drink bean is suitable for extraction methods such as pour-over, cold brew, French press, and others. If you want to taste the most original aroma of coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends black coffee as the best form. Regardless of the extraction method used, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the freshness of coffee beans is very important. The aroma of coffee roasted more than two months ago has likely dissipated significantly, and even the most excellent extraction techniques can hardly restore the cup's aroma. To let everyone experience coffee's best tasting period, FrontStreet Coffee only ships beans freshly roasted within 5 days, so you can start brewing when you receive them.

Drink Coffee in Moderation

For many office workers, a cup of coffee every morning is essential. Moderate caffeine helps us quickly refresh and wake up our minds, and sometimes can help reduce body edema. Due to its very low calorie content, it can increase body metabolism, and drinking it an hour before exercise can help burn fat, making it one of the recommended beverages for many fitness enthusiasts. However, FrontStreet Coffee still needs to remind everyone that only pure black coffee has certain effects. If additives like syrup, condensed milk, or coffee creamer are added, they can easily bring extra calories, and long-term consumption is not beneficial to our health.

Whether coffee is healthy is an enduring global topic, but the current consensus in the medical community is that moderate coffee consumption has no adverse effects on health and does not increase the risk of some cancers, and may even be beneficial to the body. FrontStreet Coffee suggests that no more than 3 cups of coffee per day is beneficial and harmless to health, but this should also be considered based on each individual's physical constitution. When we experience insomnia, gastrointestinal discomfort, or other conditions after drinking coffee, we should not consume excessive amounts of caffeine.

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

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