Robusta And Arabica

July 19, 2024

Part One:

We have always advocated for high-altitude, shade-grown Arabica coffee as a means to support biodiversity and contribute to rainforest preservation. Though far from an ideal way of preserving rare and sensitive equatorial ecosystems, making these areas more valuable as high end specialty arabica coffee farms does preserve some habitat for birds and animals. The robusta alternative is more of a monoculture, clear-cutting, high-yield, high-efficiency farm.

We've been teaching this viewpoint for decades, however, in the past five years, we've observed a surge in Robusta proponents and a proliferation of pro-Robusta articles.

We were equally puzzled when the Rainforest Alliance certified non-shade coffee plantations, although we should have seen this coming as observers have been warning of the steady de-evolution of shade requirements over the years. We were then completely baffled when Robusta-specific Q grading standards for specialty coffee designation were proposed recently.

Now, in 2024, we are on the brink of an all-out blitz promoting the benefits of Robusta, with some specialty coffee enthusiasts claiming, "it really doesn't taste that bad."

More concerning, we see scare tactics in full swing across various media, reminiscent of the issues Julie Craves addressed in her 2012 article, "Is Coffee Really at Risk of Extinction."

So we have to ask what is motivating the shifts in policy and the attempts to change consumer acceptance of robusta as a direct substitute for Arabica?

In trying to research these issues objectively, one question kept popping up.

Is Robusta robust?

Does Robusta live up to its namesake? Does it really display GMO-like resistance to disease, pests and global warming?

Or is it all folklore and myth?

Our investigation is far from complete, but so far we have found the following claims:

Tolerance to leaf rust
Higher caffeine in Robusta concentration deters pests
Higher temperature resistance
Better drought tolerance
Higher yield
Easy to grow
No need for high altitude farms

If we assume for a moment that all the above traits were true then why haven't centuries of Arabica farmers ripped out their Arabica varieties and replanted with Robusta? Why wouldn't farmers want a super coffee plant?

The blunt answer is Robusta tastes like shi%.

Arabica has been preferred over Robusta because it has always tasted better.

This is why farmers throughout the hundreds of years of coffee growing history have struggled to maintain Arabica plantations in difficult high-elevation mountainside plantations.

This is why Arabica farmers have maintained groves of tall trees to provide shade and wind protection for delicate Arabica plants.

And this is also why Arabica coffee farmers have laboriously hand picked their crop. It's all in the pursuit of better taste and quality.

As for those people who make the claim that “specialty grade Robusta” can compete with and substitute for specialty grade Arabica, then why create a whole new scoring system for Robusta when we already have a scoring system for coffee?

That's like creating a new grading system for yellow spotty diamonds so we can call the best yellow, spotty diamonds .. flawless.

Doesn't make much sense does it?