Coffee comes from one of two main species that are grown commercially: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora (Robusta).
Allpress Espresso has always exclusively bought and roasted Arabica beans, as do most of our competitors in the specialty coffee market. But it will be very interesting to observe if this changes in the market over the long term, as global demand for coffee is ever rising and sadly, as it becomes more and more challenging to produce coffee due to climate change, input costs and other issues.
First things first, what are the differences between these two coffee species:
Arabica coffee
Originated in Ethiopia
Roughly 60% of the world's coffee today is arabica
Arabica coffee prefers to grow at altitudes between 800—2000 masl
Prefers to grow at temperatures between 16-24ºc
Arabica coffee is sensitive – it generally has poor resistance to pests and disease, doesn’t tolerate excessive heat or drought. It's quite particular about altitude, daylight hours, humidity
Generally, arabica has a more complex flavour profile, more defined acidity, less bitterness, less caffeine, and has less intensity when compared to Robusta.
Robusta coffee
Thought to have originated in Uganda but other Western sub-Saharan African countries may lay claim too
Roughly 40% of the world's coffee today is robusta
Prefers to grow below 800 masl and at temperatures between 20-30ºc
It's incredibly robust – hence the name. This species is known to be more resistant to pests and diseases, can tolerate more humidity, drought conditions and higher temperatures than arabica
Generally, it has a less complex flavour profile, low acidity, high bitterness, higher caffeine content, more intense flavour, and produces more espresso crema than arabica.
The above are generalisations, but there are always exceptions. For example with the right microclimate, it's possible to grow good quality arabica at lower altitudes. Perhaps the most famous examples are arabica coffee being commercially grown below 900 masl in northern NSW and south-east QLD Australia, and in the Galapagos Islands, where it is grown at sea level. There are also some high-quality robustas out there that rival good-quality arabica, with good acidity and clarity of flavours. However, these are harder to find, and not common.
Other species
Coffee Liberica is the third largest volume species but it pales in comparison to Arabica and Robusta, making up only a fraction of a percent of global coffee production. There are many other wild species but currently, none are being produced commercially at a significant scale.
Growing regions for arabica and robusta
Due to the above requirements (temp, altitude, humidity etc.) both arabica coffee and robusta coffee grow most successfully in “the coffee belt”; the sub-tropical regions between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn (in other words either side of the equator). They can grow as far north as Yunnan in China, and Hawaii, and as far south as Parana in Brazil, and northern NSW, Australia.
Brazil produces nearly 40% of the world’s coffee (both Arabica and Robusta), as it is blessed with vast areas that have suitable growing conditions. They also uniquely have large plateaus at altitude. In these areas, they can grow coffee in straight rows and use mechanical harvesting machines. This brings their production costs down and increases their yields far higher when compared to most other growing regions around the world, where coffee is planted amongst other trees, often up steep mountainsides.
The average “bags per hectare” for a farm in Brazil is around 30 bags of coffee, but there are farms that consistently produce 80 or 90 bags per hectare too due to industrialisation. In Colombia (the second largest Arabica producer) the national average is closer to 12 bags per hectare. The other key difference: the average farm size in Brazil is 80-100 hectares, while in Colombia it is only 1.2 hectares.
To put the scale of Brazil into context even further, they produce as much arabica coffee (roughly 45-50 million bags) as the next 10-11 largest Arabica producers combined. The second and third largest arabica producers are Colombia (~13 million bags) and Ethiopia (~8 million bags).
Vietnam produces the most Robusta coffee in the world, followed by Brazil and Uganda.
