Introduction to the Three Major Native Coffee Species: Is Robusta Coffee Really Tasteless Like Chewing Wax?

Introduction to the Three Major Coffee Varieties by FrontStreet Coffee

There are approximately 40 species in the Coffea genus, but only three produce coffee beans with commercial value: Arabica, Robusta and Liberica. These three are known as the "three major native coffee species."

Arabica accounts for 75%-80% of coffee production. Its excellent flavor and aroma make it the only native variety suitable for drinking on its own. However, it has low resistance to drought, frost damage and pests, particularly to coffee's natural enemy, leaf rust. That is why all coffee-producing countries are committed to variety improvement.

Major producing regions for Arabica coffee beans include South America (excluding parts of Argentina and Brazil), Central America, Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and other East African countries) and Asia (including parts of Yemen, India and Papua New Guinea).

The leaf-rust-resistant variety discovered in the Congo, Africa, has stronger disease resistance than Arabica. People often compare Robusta with Arabica coffee. In fact, Robusta is a mutant variety of the Congo species (scientific name: Coffea canephora), so it is really the Congo variety that should be compared with Arabica. To this day, though, the name Robusta has become commonly used by the public and is treated as the same species as Congo.

Arabica coffee beans grow in cooler, high-altitude tropical regions. The hot and humid areas unsuitable for Arabica growth are exactly where Robusta thrives. Robusta has a distinctive aroma (called "Robusta flavor," which some consider a musty smell) and bitterness. Just 2%-3% in a blend can make the whole cup taste like Robusta. Its flavor is so distinct and strong that, besides instant coffee, it is often used in Italian-style blends.

West Africa is the origin of Liberica coffee. It adapts strongly to a wide range of environments, whether hot or cold, humid or dry, but it is not resistant to leaf rust. Its flavor is also inferior to Arabica, so it is only traded domestically in some West African countries (Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and others) or cultivated for research purposes.

Among coffees circulating on the world market, approximately 65% are Arabica and 35% are Robusta. Arabica beans are characterized by their slender, flat shape, while Robusta beans are more rounded, and the two are easily told apart by shape.

Knowledge point: coffee-producing regions worldwide are mainly distributed in the areas north and south of the equator, also known as the "coffee belt."

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer and a clean example of what 100% Arabica can do. FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic Brazilian single origin: this red Bourbon is roasted medium, showing creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut aromas with a rounded body, very low acidity and a light bittersweet edge, and it works in pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon or French press. FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate goes a step sweeter with the rare yellow Bourbon, grown on the fertile red volcanic soil of Mogiana and mutated from red Bourbon, delivering a sugarcane sweetness plus fruit and chocolate notes that other regions rarely match. Both are single-origin Arabica, so they show the species at its cleanest.

If you want to see how a touch of Robusta changes a cup, the FrontStreet espresso blend series all include Brazilian coffee. Blends like FrontStreet Classic Blend, FrontStreet Signature Blend, FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend and the barista-oriented FrontStreet Commercial Blend rely on Brazil for chocolate and creamy aroma and for balanced sweet-tart-bitter structure; a small addition of Robusta adds the richer oils and crema that make extraction more stable, which is exactly the role the third species plays in an espresso recipe.