Arabica vs. Robusta Coffee Beans

If you’re a coffee fan, you’ve probably heard that you should be buying coffee beans that are 100% arabica as they’re “better” than robusta beans. Although this is true in most circumstances, this post aims to explain why arabica beans are generally better.

Quick Background on Arabica and Robusta Coffee Plants
We’ll dive into bean formation in a future post, but it’s important to note that coffee beans are not really beans at all, but rather the seeds of a cherry that forms on a coffee plant. Two major coffee plant species exist – coffea arabica and coffea robusta. Although both varieties can produce coffee cherries, major differences exist between the two, greatly affecting taste.

Arabica Beans
Arabica beans come from coffea arabica coffee plants and are grown in high altitudes (such as mountainous and volcanic areas). They require a lot of attention from farmers as the plants are quite delicate. If an arabica coffee growing country experiences too much (or too little) rain or an unexpected freeze, all the coffee plants could be ruined and a season’s worth of crops lost. Since arabica is such a delicate plant, when these events take place, it can have a big impact on coffee prices due to underproduction. Arabica beans are also very susceptible to insects and diseases, so constant monitoring and care by farmers is required. Regarding taste, the high altitudes and constant care allows the arabica plants to produce coffee that has a greater complexity in taste and are far more superior to robusta beans.

Robusta Beans
Robusta beans come from coffea robusta coffee plants which are hardier and a lot easier to grow than arabica, requiring much less attention by farmers and less affected by climate changes. Robusta does not have to grow in high altitudes and, although it has shallow roots, the amount of coffee cherries this plant yields is much greater than arabicas (so not only is robusta easier to grow, farmers can in effect grow more of it). There is a major downside to robusta – a serious flaw in the variety is that the coffee produced by the robusta tastes like burnt rubber (literally).  In robusta’s defense, the plant does yield beans that have a very high caffeine content (about twice as much as arabica) and taste very bold, which can be desirable by some in espresso (did I mention the burnt rubber?).

Some roasters use robusta (about 25%) to create special blends that have a higher caffeine content and taste more bold to make the blend more even and balanced. On occasion, roasters can also find a robusta to use for espresso blends as well for these same reasons (as people expect espresso to be highly caffeinated and bold tasting). However, other big coffee companies take advantage of the inexpensive robusta and use it by adding it in as filler to try and cut costs or increase margins (since robusta beans are less expensive than arabica). Most of the canned coffee you find in the grocery store falls into this scenario (they use a lot of robusta, not only because it’s better for their profit margins, but also to hide the stale taste as canned coffee is typically pre-ground and thus, very stale).

Sure, there are rare exceptions, such as the blending I mentioned, but as a rule – I recommend that you only buy coffee that’s listed as being 100% arabica.