Robusta Coffee Beans Return to Specialty Coffee Circle?! Fine Robusta Becomes New Favorite in Coffee Shops!

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Since the cultivation and emphasis on Arabica coffee beans, both in quality and refined flavor, they have gained recognition from coffee consumers. Meanwhile, Robusta, which once dominated the coffee world, has become the coffee species at the bottom of the coffee "chain of contempt" that many coffee professionals would scorn over the past 20 years due to its wild and rough flavor performance.

However, this phenomenon has changed significantly recently. As the saying goes, "fashion favors retro," these once-unpopular Robusta coffee beans have been taken seriously by the specialty coffee community in the past two years.

Unlike the poor-quality, low-altitude grown, inferior Robusta coffee beans, these Robusta beans that have entered the specialty coffee circle are mostly grown in high-altitude regions. At the same time, more attention is paid to the coffee bean extraction process (coffee processing methods), cultivating and processing Robusta coffee beans according to the standards of specialty Arabica beans. From last year's World Barista Championship contestant using Vietnamese Robusta grown at 1200m mixed with Panama Hartmann Estate Geisha coffee beans to achieve fourth place; to the increasing number of specialty coffee shops worldwide starting to use coffee beans blended with Robusta to make espresso;

And now there are specialty coffee shops starting to sell single-origin anaerobic natural processed specialty Robusta coffee beans. Why have people in the specialty coffee community suddenly started caring about Robusta coffee beans? The reason is largely due to climate instability in recent years, which has greatly affected regions suitable for growing coffee and producing high-quality beans. For Arabica, which has extremely high requirements for growing environment altitude, terroir, and climate, this invisibly poses a very significant challenge.

However, Robusta itself has extremely strong survival capabilities, so in terms of quality, yield, and flavor, there's no need to worry too much about climate and terroir having too much impact. Although its own genetics and high disease and冲击 resistance cause Robusta to have higher caffeine and chlorogenic acid, resulting in obvious bitterness in this coffee variety. But in fact, as long as it's grown in high-altitude regions, the bitterness of Robusta beans can be alleviated. Because high-altitude regions usually have significant day-night temperature differences, some pests don't like to grow in such environments, so the coffee itself will reduce the production of chlorogenic acid (mainly used for pest resistance), freeing up more space for the formation of good flavors.

Robusta grown and processed according to specialty Arabica coffee bean requirements can retain the characteristics of high body and low acidity while displaying pleasant flavors such as barley tea, nuts, and caramel. To help more people regain a good impression of Robusta coffee beans, some green bean suppliers have also launched anaerobic natural processed specialty Robusta coffee beans. These Robusta trees are grown in high-altitude regions of Vietnam, on basalt soil.

During the harvest season, fully ripe fruits are harvested entirely by hand, then manually washed twice. Next, they are fermented in a sealed container (anaerobic) for 8 days, after which the coffee fruits are taken out and dried for another 25 days until the dryness level reaches storage conditions.

A coffee shop owner who sells single-origin specialty Robusta stated: "Robusta coffee usually has nutty and rich dark chocolate flavors. When processed through anaerobic fermentation, the resulting coffee beans develop more fruity, unique flavors while maintaining rich nutty notes. The taste of anaerobic Robusta is natural, sweet, and highly complex. It's very popular among consumers. In fact, Robusta itself is not as bad as everyone thinks. The earliest Arabica coffee beans were actually not tastier than Robusta; it was only after people later emphasized cultivation and processing that Arabica coffee beans with more good flavors emerged. Then Robusta can also achieve the same effect, and the price will also be cheaper compared to Arabica coffee beans."

Many specialty coffee shops that use Robusta blends to make espresso have stated: "Although Robusta gives a general impression to many modern coffee enthusiasts, for general consumers, long-term stability and rich thickness in coffee are more important than delicate and rich flavors. And the unstable quality and flavor of Arabica coffee beans in recent years have also made the specialty coffee industry re-emphasize Robusta."

From the changes in these past two years, it can be seen that many professionals and enthusiasts have truly begun to recognize that specialty coffee should not be limited to varieties and flavors, nor should it be limited to brewing and 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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