The world’s three major coffee varieties | Why does Robusta coffee rarely appear in specialty coffee? What are the pros and cons of the Robusta variety?_Coffee Beans_FrontStreet Coffee

I believe everyone in Front Street has heard of Arabica coffee. The coffee in specialty coffee shops on the market now generally consists of Arabica coffee beans. Just like the coffee varieties in Front Street Coffee are basically Arabica coffee. But today, Front Street would like to introduce to you Robusta coffee, one of the three major coffee varieties.

Robusta coffee is actually a variety within the Caneira species, but because everyone is accustomed to calling the Caneira species Robusta coffee, Robusta coffee is generally used to refer to the Caneira species.

Front Street believes that whether a coffee has a good future depends largely on its flavor. If coffee tastes like potato, there is definitely no market for this coffee. Therefore, the reason why Robusta coffee is often used in commercial beans or as instant coffee is because Robusta coffee usually does not have the aromatic smell of Arabica beans. Instead, it has more characteristics of wheat, grains, etc., and sometimes even has a pungent smell. This is one of the reasons why Robusta coffee rarely appears in the specialty coffee world.

On the other hand, not only coffee beans contain caffeine, but drinks such as black tea, cocoa, and cola that we come into contact with daily also contain large amounts of caffeine. Front Street often hears customers say that drinking coffee at night will make them unable to sleep. This is because caffeine has the function of stimulating the central nervous system and has addictive properties, which is commonly known as the refreshing function.

According to Front Street, Robusta coffee has a higher caffeine content than Arabica varieties. However, it is also worth noting that Robusta coffee also contains a large amount of chlorogenic acid. You may not know much about chlorogenic acid, so Front Street will give you a brief introduction.

Chlorogenic acid is one of the sources of sourness and bitterness in coffee. Chlorogenic acid will decompose into caffeic acid and quinic acid, especially when the temperature is below 80 degrees and above 85 degrees. When chlorogenic acid is decomposed, quinic acid will immediately decompose to produce an obvious bitter taste, and caffeic acid will decompose to produce an obvious sour taste. The mixture of sourness and bitterness forms the sour and bitter taste of Robusta coffee and the flavor of aged coffee.

Compared with Robusta coffee, the content of caffeine, chlorogenic acid and other substances in Arabica coffee is less than half that of Robusta coffee. This is one of the reasons why Arabica coffee has a better flavor than Robusta coffee. What Front Street mentioned is only a small part of the factors that affect the flavor of Robusta coffee. The growing environment, roasting degree, etc. will also affect the substance content in the coffee. Front Street will not go into detail here.

Many friends think that Robusta beans are "bad" when they hear them. Front Street believes that the emergence of Robusta coffee also has its own value. For example, among Italian blended beans, Robusta coffee has an unshakable position.

In some areas of Italy, some regions pursue coffee with a darker roasting degree and a thicker taste. They will add a small amount of Robusta coffee to the blended beans to enhance the mellowness of the coffee and produce an Espresso with richer oil.

The blend of Espresso and cream presents a mellow and full taste, while the milk coffee complements the Robusta and Arabica coffee beans, making it richer and more fragrant. Front Street believes that,robusta coffee beansFilling in the mellowness lacking in Arabica coffee, Arabica coffee also enhances the aroma of Robusta coffee beans. The formula formed by the combination of the two coffee beans is sublimated into an art. But it should be noted that you should not add too much Luodou, otherwise it will easily overpower the flavor.

In addition, Robusta has also made certain contributions in the research of new coffee varieties. The aroma of Arabica coffee is very rich, and the taste is also more delicate than Robusta to a certain extent. However, Front Street discovered that Robusta has better drought tolerance, disease resistance, and yield than Arabica. Therefore, researchers have crossed Robusta and Arabica to select the best genes and develop a new variety with both high-quality flavor and strong disease resistance and high yield.

So, although Robusta cannot compete with Arabica in terms of flavor, it still has its existence value. As the saying goes, existence is reasonable. Front Street believes that the value of Robusta coffee still has great potential to be explored.

You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.

The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.

FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.

FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473

The world’s three major coffee varieties | Why does Robusta coffee rarely appear in specialty coffee? What are the pros and cons of the Robusta variety?

Subscribe to Front Street Updates