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The Misunderstood Robusta: Beyond Coffee's "Chain of Contempt"

Robusta—a coffee species that makes many coffee professionals recoil, sitting at the bottom of coffee's "chain of contempt." Its unappealing flavors and predominant use as instant coffee material have become the primary reasons why Robusta is defined as poor quality.

However, this unappealing coffee species has gained attention from the specialty coffee community in recent years. From independent to specialty coffee shops/brands, to influential world coffee competitions, we can see Robusta making appearances. Is Robusta really that bad? Apparently not.

Changing Perceptions in the Specialty Coffee World

The specialty coffee community's impression of Robusta used to be extremely poor due to crude cultivation and processing methods. It lacks charming delicate flavors, doesn't have the lively bright acidity that the specialty community pursues, and often carries earthy flavors or even burnt rubber tastes, making Robusta typically very inexpensive.

However, these impressions come from cheap Robusta varieties of the past—not all Robusta is as terrible as everyone thinks.

The Robusta Renaissance

Influenced by the Arabica specialty coffee wave, Robusta cultivation and processing have also received attention! High-quality Robusta can maintain its characteristics of high body and low acidity while showcasing appealing flavors like barley tea, nuts, and caramel.

Robusta's Unique Strengths

Robusta's characteristic high body can be said to surpass all Arabica coffee beans, and its long-term flavor stability is something Arabica cannot achieve. Although the flavor isn't refined, its stability is truly strong!

With coffee's growing environment deteriorating in recent years, Arabica—which has extremely high requirements for growing altitude, terroir, and climate—faces an invisible, significant challenge. But Robusta's own survival ability is extremely strong, so in terms of quality, yield, and flavor, there's no need to worry too much about climate and terroir having too much impact.

The Market Reality

For general consumers, coffee with long-term stability and rich thickness is more important than refined, complex flavors. The instability of Arabica coffee bean quality and flavor in recent years has also made the specialty coffee industry re-emphasize Robusta for coffee bean blending.

For example, a few days ago, Blue Bottle Coffee, one of the representatives of the specialty coffee wave, launched a blended coffee bean with specialty Robusta at its core. Another example: at the 2022 WBC competition, Japanese competitor Takayuki Ishitani used a blend of Panama Hartman Geisha with Vietnamese specialty Robusta, overturning the new generation of coffee enthusiasts' definition of specialty coffee.

Robusta as the Perfect Partner

Although Robusta's flavor doesn't match Arabica coffee beans, it possesses very strong body, bringing coffee a solid, thick mouthfeel. If brewed directly, it might not taste good, but when used for blending, Robusta can be said to be an excellent "partner."

Meeting Consumer Preferences

Although more people are pursuing acidity in coffee flavors, many general coffee consumers cannot accept coffee with obvious sourness—high-body, balanced coffees remain the mainstream of consumption. Although Robusta's coffee flavor isn't good, adding a small amount can appropriately enhance the coffee's mouthfeel and body.

Blended coffee beans will also be the future trend of specialty coffee. Because general consumers are the key to supporting industry development, and what general consumers need are products with stable quality and balanced flavors—something that single-origin coffee beans cannot achieve consistently over long periods.

The Art and Science of Coffee Blending

Compared to single-origin coffee beans, blended coffee beans better test the blender's professionalism, requiring not only deep understanding of the characteristics of coffee beans from different regions and seasons but also in-depth research on roasting and extraction to create comprehensive beans that balance and stabilize coffee flavors.

Redefining Specialty Coffee

Once, a netizen said this: The longer you study in the coffee world, the more you realize there are no absolutes. Is Robusta definitely worse than Arabica? Not necessarily; is unevenly extracted coffee definitely bad-tasting? Not necessarily; are baristas who can make coffee definitely professional? Not necessarily...

True specialty coffee shouldn't be limited to varieties or flavors, nor should it be limited to brewing or extraction. Sometimes, simplicity is the most authentic~ Coffee that makes everyone give a thumbs up can become specialty coffee.

Image source: Internet

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