Characteristics of three major coffee varieties Arabica, Robusta and Liberka Arabica coffee beans

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of Arabica

A brief comparison of the world's three major coffee varieties:

One. Coffee beans can be roughly divided into three types: (1) Arabica coffee tree,(2) Robusta coffee tree and (3). Liberica coffee tree.

Two. Coffee production: Arabica accounts for 69% of world coffee production, Robusta accounts for 30% of world coffee production, Liberica accounts for about 1% of world coffee production. Therefore, coffee beans and coffee futures trading in the world are mainly Arabica and Robusta.

Three. Arabica/Robusta fundamental comparison:

Characteristics/Varieties

Arabica

Robusta

Place of origin, growing environment

It is the most popular coffee bean in the market. It is mainly grown in the plateau areas of the Western Hemisphere, including Brazil, Colombia and other Latin American countries. Brazil and Colombia are the world's first and second largest coffee producers respectively. They grow at heights of more than 2000 feet and have moderate and stable temperatures.

It is mainly grown in low-lying and hot Africa and Asia, with Cote d'Ivoire being the most important producer, Uganda followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, etc., and heights ranging from 500 to 2000 feet, with strong disease resistance.

Harvest time and yield

Arabica coffee trees take five years to bear fruit from seedlings, with the main harvest period being May-September in Brazil and April-June in Colombia, accounting for about 70 percent of the global market.

Robasta coffee trees only need two to three years to bear fruit, Indonesia harvest every year from April to August, Vietnam every year from October to April of the following year, the total production accounts for about 30% of the global market.

Features and uses

Mild taste, aroma and wine sour, high quality, relatively high price.

It has strong resistance to pests and diseases, less popular taste and aroma, and is mainly used as a blend and as a raw material for instant coffee.

Arabica vs Robusta The difference between Arabica and Robusta coffee:

Coffee beans are seeds belonging to the Rubiaceae family, under which there are at least 25 main varieties of Coffee Genus, of which the two most important varieties are Arabica species Coffee arabica (Arabica coffee) and Canafora species Coffee canephora (Robusta coffee), also known as "Robasta coffee". Arabica coffee beans account for 70% of global production, and robasta coffee beans account for about 30%. Arabica coffee has 44 chromosomes, while robasta coffee has 22 chromosomes, so Arabica coffee is a crop that cannot be crossed with robasta coffee.

Coffee trees are affected by climate, altitude, soil quality and other factors in different regions, which affect the quality and flavor of coffee beans, just like other agricultural products such as tea and wine. Therefore, even if they come from the same country, different regions have different flavors, and the prices naturally vary. Coffee trees belong to evergreen plants, cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas, the most suitable growth conditions are, to have a proper amount of rain, soil drainage is good, so more choose in rich volcanic ash (rich in organic matter) inclined slope, and therefore most of the high-quality Arabica coffee beans are manually harvested and then carried down by horses or mules.

Arabica coffee beans smaller, obverse for the long oval, the middle of the split line crack narrow and tortuous, S-shaped, beans on the back of the arc shape is more complete. Robasta coffee beans are larger in shape, tend to be round on the front, and split cracks in the middle into straight lines. (VivOlé Arabica beans in the following pictures are Maragogype beans, higher grades and larger beans)

In terms of cultivation, robasta coffee trees can withstand high temperature, cold, drought, moisture, pest resistance and strong adaptability characteristics, in the flat can grow very well, unfortunately the coffee beans produced, lack of aroma, bitter (caffeine), acidity is not enough, so more used for instant coffee, canned coffee, or brewing three-in-one coffee. In Italy, many coffee shops add the appropriate proportion of Robusta beans to espresso coffee to deepen the "taste"(such as strong, rough, etc.).

The difference between Arabica coffee and Robasta coffee, which is generally used for canned drinks, is as follows:

Arabica

Robusta

chromosome

44

22

From planting to first harvest

4-5 years

2-3 years

flowering to bear red fruit

9 months

10 to 11 months

ripe fruit

dropped

Stay on the branch.

Wild tree species highest

7 - 12 m

10 meters

root

deep earth

shallow soil

optimal growth temperature

15 -24℃

24 -30℃

optimum rainfall

1500 -2000 mm

2000 -3000 mm

optimum growth height

900 - 2000 m

0 - 700 m

growth environment

Warm and cool

warm and humid

Number of coffee beans produced by coffee trees

low

high

Share of global production

Approximately 70%

Approximately 30%

planting

Mostly organic.

Commercial large-scale cultivation

planting land

Mostly private farms.

Mostly controlled by multinational corporations

Coffee bean harvesting

artificial

vibrating machine

disease resistance

weak

strong

insect resistance

weak

strong

caffeine

1.1-1.7%

4.5-4.7%

result characteristic

monogamy

heterogamy

fruit color

yellow or red

dark red

bean form

Long oval, flat

Elliptical, spherical

bean line

S-shaped

linearly

post-cooking characteristics

acid

bitter

Density (BODY)

Average 1.2%

Average 2.0%

Flavor (FLAVOR)

Jia

difference

Quality vs. Quantity

Arabica coffee represented quality, while robasta coffee represented quantity.

How to distinguish Arabica coffee beans from Robusta coffee beans:

Arabica coffee beans are oblong and flat in shape.

Robusta coffee beans are oval, spherical or nearly spherical in shape.

* Countries or regions where coffee is produced:

Coffee is produced in about 60 countries around the world, and the main coffee producing areas are distributed in the loop of the Tropic of Cancer, which is also known as the Coffee Zone or Coffee Belt.

The most important areas include Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the southern Arabian Peninsula and Oceania.

These areas have one thing in common: temperature, annual rainfall are roughly the same, and there is plenty of sunshine and fertile soil.

Among the many varieties of Arabica, the most famous and distinctive coffee varieties are Typic and Bourbon. Bourbon is more resistant to high temperatures than Typic and is better suited to lower altitudes.

Arabica Coffee Bean Features-Why is only Arabica often used to make specialty coffee?