ARABICA vs. ROBUSTA

Like wine making, coffee farming is a very delicate and intricate process.

The coffee plant grows as a tree. The cherries on the plant require the perfect balance of shade, rain and sunshine, and thrive in warm, humid climates. It takes 5 years for a coffee tree to bear cherries and once mature they are harvested 1 or 2 times a year.

Harvesting high grade ARABICA beans is very labour intensive. The process picking the cherry and removing the pulp, parchment and silverskin to expose the green bean.

Only an experienced picker can select the ripest cherries for processing as not all cherries ripen at the same time; as a result, workers must continually return to the same tree. It takes approximately 2000 hand picked cherries to create one pound of coffee.

ARABICA coffee represents 75% of the world's coffee production. It grows on high plains at altitudes between 4000 and 6000 feet, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Robusta coffee (a lower quality bean) grows at lower altitudes.

Characteristically, it takes an ARABICA bush almost twice as long to mature, 5 years to be exact, while the more resilient Robusta mature in 2 years and is harvested more often.

ARABICA beans are preferred over Robusta for the following reasons:

• Arabica beans have a smoother taste and aroma, the beans are more delicate.
• Arabica beans contain less moisture, less caffeine, and less acid.
• Arabica beans have fewer mutations and are more consistent.
• Arabica beans are higher quality.

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