What are the three major coffee varieties in the world|How does Liberian coffee taste?

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The Three Major Commercial Coffee Varieties

Classified by botany or coffee bean varieties, there are actually more than 60 species of coffee! There are also 25 artificially cultivated varieties, but only three of them are commercially viable, which are the three varieties everyone is familiar with: Liberica (large bean), Robusta (medium bean), and Arabica (small bean) coffee.

However, in this vast market, there is notably no place for the large-bean variety "Liberica" among the three major varieties.

Origin and Characteristics of Liberica

Liberica grows in low-altitude forests, and its name comes from its discovery location, a small country in West Africa - "Liberia." Because Liberica trees can grow to heights of 6-20 meters, and the fruits they bear are larger than Arabica and Robusta, people have given it the name "large bean variety"!

Caffeine Content Misconceptions

Although it is large in size, it does not have caffeine content proportional to its size like Robusta. For example, we often hear comparisons between Robusta and Arabica, describing Robusta's advantages as: large beans and high caffeine content, which can better refresh people when consumed. This inevitably makes people associate size with caffeine! In fact, this is not the case. Liberica has large beans, but its caffeine content is even less than Arabica's!

Scientific research shows that Robusta varieties contain about 2-4% caffeine of their bean weight; Arabica varieties contain about 1.2% caffeine of their bean weight, while Liberica only reaches about 1%! Although Liberica's caffeine content is far lower than the other two varieties, its flavor performance is not particularly outstanding. Instead, it is characterized by a heavy smoky aroma! It even has negative "wild" earthy and woody flavors, completely inferior to the other two coffee bean varieties. Some even describe its taste as liquid tobacco, with a dull, melancholic flavor very similar to the smell emitted when hay burns. Therefore, the most widespread cultivation area of Liberica - "the Philippines" - calls coffee made from Liberica varieties "Barako Coffee" (Tough Guy Coffee).

Cultivation Challenges

Due to the tall stature of Liberica trees, harvesting is more difficult for people. Therefore, even though it was discovered as early as the nineteenth century, not many people would cultivate it widely, except for the Philippines mentioned above.

The Philippines Coffee Industry

We rarely see beans from the Philippines on the market, mainly because the Philippines' current coffee production can only meet the strong local demand for coffee. Surprisingly, their cultivation time and production are extremely inconsistent. After all, they actually started growing Arabica as early as 1740. In the 1880s, the Philippines even rose to become the world's fourth-largest coffee-producing country, a completely different existence from today. However, early coffee-growing regions inevitably could not escape the nightmare brought by leaf rust disease, including the Philippines.

The Decline and Revival

In 1889, the leaf rust disease that swept through multiple countries finally reached the Philippines. The combination of leaf rust and severe pest infestation caused the Philippines' coffee production to decrease by 80% within two years. Many coffee farmers turned to other economic crops, and the Philippines' coffee industry stagnated for 50 years! It wasn't until the 1950s that the Philippine government, in order to revive the glory of the coffee industry, introduced Robusta and Liberica varieties with excellent disease resistance from abroad and planned a five-year plan to revive the Philippines' coffee industry within five years. In fact, this plan "more or less" succeeded!

Self-Sufficiency and Current Status

In 1962, the Philippines finally no longer needed to rely on imported coffee, as domestic coffee production recovered to be self-sufficient. Among this, a large demand came from instant coffee factories across the Philippines, and the "Barako" flavored Liberica was one of their demands, although they needed more Robusta. But this was enough for the current Philippines to climb to the position of the largest Liberica cultivation country. After all, besides it, few other countries cultivate it on a large scale!

Future Possibilities

As mentioned at the beginning, there is currently no place for Liberica in the commercial coffee market. If it were cultivated using Arabica growing methods like Robusta, could it possibly grow "specialty grade" Liberica like Robusta?

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