Popular Science | Alabica VS Robasta

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Robusta coffee beans (Coffea canephora robusta variety) and Arabica coffee beans (Coffea arabica) are commonly used by ordinary coffee bean manufacturers, and the taste of the two coffee beans will be different with different proportions.

What are the characteristics of these two kinds of coffee beans?

Robusta grows in an area with an altitude of 0800 meters, a temperature of 1836 ℃ and an annual precipitation of 2200-3000 mm. From flowering to fruit ripening for about 7-9 months, its bean line is round, with weak wet aroma (aroma) and woody (woody). The coffee produced has a strong bitter taste and low sour taste. Its caffeine content is 1.8 ~ 3.5%. Robusta coffee beans are generally used for instant solution because they extract twice as much coffee liquid as Arabica.

Arabica grows in an area with an altitude of 600-2200 m, a temperature of 15 °- 24 °C and an annual rainfall of 1200-2200 mm. From flowering to fruit ripening about 7-9 months, its bean shape is long, with a strong and round wet aroma, coffee made from Arabica coffee has a strong complex flavor. Such as: fruit, chocolate, caramel and so on, the bitter taste and sour taste of the coffee are relatively balanced. Its caffeine content is less than 1.5%.

How to distinguish between these two kinds of coffee beans?

Arabica coffee beans: oval shape, zigzag grooves, a bit like half a peanut

Robusta coffee beans: the appearance is relatively round, the middle side of the crack is a little inflated, the groove is very straight

Arabica: the bean shape is small, the front is long oval, the middle crack is narrow and tortuous, and the arc on the back of the bean is flat.

Robusta: the bean shape is larger, the front is gradually round, the back is round and convex, and the crack is straight.

From a flavor point of view:

Arabica: Arabica coffee has a varied and broad potential flavor. Arabica coffee produced in different regions, different elevations and different climates has its own characteristics and can show completely different individual flavor. When unbaked, it smells like grass. After proper baking, it shows "fruity" (medium-shallow baking) and "caramel flavor" (deep baking). It is suitable for single producing area and a variety of mixed beans, and can be made using various extraction techniques (French press kettle, drip extraction drip filtration, espresso machines concentrator).

Medium to high aroma, bright acidity, smooth taste, medium to low mellow thickness, pleasant return

Robusta: mainly used for concentration and blending to increase alcohol thickness, produce thicker grease, and add a specific amount to the cup. Usually use 5-15%, sometimes more than 25% of the total amount of roasted coffee blended.

Medium to low aromatic, low acidity, strong bitter taste, mellow thickness, wood taste, Huigan has pyrolysis and spicy taste

If you want to ask the country or region that loves Robusta beans most, the first place is Italy, the hometown of espresso! To narrow it down further, to be precise, the largest use of robusta beans is in southern Italy, such as Palermo and Sicilia. In fact, in southern Italy, most of the coffee people drink contains a considerable proportion of robusta beans. It is common to have a content of 30% to 60.

Open the list of beans supplied by local wholesalers of raw coffee beans in Italy, and you will see a list of more than a dozen, or even more than 20, raw beans from coffee producing areas around the world for local coffee roasters to choose from. This phenomenon does not exist in other parts of the world, such as the United States and Canada, Northern Europe, Japan and even Taiwan.

You may wonder why Italians mix a lot of robusta in Arabica beans. Generally speaking, Italians mix with Robusta in order to increase the Crema content of Espresso.

This is only half true, and there is another little-known reason.

Once upon a time, southern Italy was a relatively poor region, where people could only afford cheap coffee, so at first it was mixed with Robusta beans simply to reduce costs. However, after years of massive roasting and blending of Robusta, coupled with Italy's natural sensitivity to cooking, they found that Robusta beans have many qualities that Arabica beans do not have. as long as you are familiar with and fully master these qualities, a good coffee roaster will be able to produce Italian coffee beans with photographic magic.