Buying your daily morning booster and finding a 100% Arabica label on it? Or finding a package that says Robusta/Arabica blend. Or picture this you walk into a coffee shop which boasts of serving pure Arabica coffee...
Feeling frustrated yet? Ever wondered why no company brand offers explanation beyond all these vague labels...?
Right then, let’s dive into the characteristics of these two. Arabica vs Robusta has been a debate since the beginning of coffee and now it’s time to settle once and for all which is best suited to your palate or even why you can opt for a blend between the two.
First and foremost, starting off with the origins, the most popular Arabica Coffee is believed to be the first cultivated species originating from Ethiopia. Robusta Coffee on the other hand can be introduced as Arabica’s street-smart younger sibling being the second most popular coffee in the world making up 40% of global coffee production originating from sub–Saharan Africa.
While the two coffees might look similar to an average person, the differences in flavor, production and brewing methods are distinctly different.
Moving on to the flavor aspect (which is a funny thing as almost every single person has a unique palate) Arabica Coffee is ‘widely considered’ superior to it’s counterpart Robusta in its complexity, sweetness, balance and body. It tends to have a smooth, mellow and sweeter taste with flavor notes of chocolate, nuts, and caramel with hints of fruits and berries. You’ll get a zing of acidity along with little to no bitterness, however the roast you choose will affect the degree to which flavors become more noticeable. Robusta Coffee on the other hand has a stronger, earthy, oatmeal like flavor with accents of dark chocolate and a grainy peanutty aftertaste. However, the different roasts of Robusta somehow manage to bring all the best flavors to the surface and regular Robusta drinkers have compared the taste to that of dark chocolate (which is a compliment in itself).
Robusta also contains about twice the amount of caffeine and half the amount of natural sugars of Arabica giving it a bitter, harsh and stronger profile. However bitter is not always a bad thing, especially if you’re a fan of dark chocolate.
The high caffeine content maybe a point to consider for those concerned about the negative effects of caffeine and thus Arabica would be the better choice in their case. Nonetheless, the high caffeine content per bean makes Robusta more resilient to pests and diseases as pests detest the caffeine’s acrid flavor and its microbial properties lends itself in defense of diseases. Robusta plant itself matures faster and produces more than Arabica making it less costly to grow. Whereas Arabica is a delicate plant that requires more energy and resources, is more susceptible to damage from climate changes and takes twice as long as Robusta to produce results.
That folks should be enough of a reason to determine the huge gap in price points between the two.
As we’ve now determined both Arabica and Robusta come with their fair share of pros and cons, let’s talk about brewing methods and why they are so essential in bringing out the best in each coffee.
Arabica is the most capable bean of the two when it comes to developing new flavors or perfecting a specific one and the best approach would be to use a method with a longer extraction period with the capacity to control pretty much any element of the brewing process. This brings the French Press to mind as it brings out the best of what the coffee has to offer. Another method that works wonders for Arabica is cold brew as it would bring out even more depth of flavor than a French Press and might even showcase the caramel flavors. Any other brewing methods using hot water would kind of sear it’s delicate flavors and that would really be a pity.
Robusta on the other hand is widely used as instant coffee and in espresso blends because of it’s bold flavors, it doesn’t need a prolonged extraction process.
Arabica on its own is wonderful to drink black. As it has a mellow profile, adding any milk or sweeteners might overshadow its refined and complex flavors. Even so thought to be the under dog, Robusta proudly boasts it’s earthy bold flavors and using cold brewed Robusta will be a great way to bypass the overly bitter taste of hot Robusta and still get it’s strong flavors along with its beautiful caffeine. Or if you’re after a nice thick crema on your espresso, then it might just do the trick.
A Robusta Coffee is used to add depth to flavor of an Arabica/ Robusta blend and a nice crema to espresso blends.
For the majority of Human Beans (get it?) the preferred choice is still Arabica but all personal opinions aside, coffee is very much a taste thing. One person's favorite flavor might be another's pet peeve. The fact that Arabica has been touted as this wonderful, pure coffee is kind of misleading. There are very beautiful Robusta/Arabica blends out there as well. So don't cast aside Robusta, rather acknowledge the favors it does to everyone's favorite, Arabica.
The facts are all on the table so you can see the main differences between Robusta and Arabica beans and make your decisions. Indeed, Robusta seems to be the uglier, harsher sister. Not very welcoming, and not for everyone. She gets the job done while Arabica makes sure everyone's happy and pleased with what they've got.