It's written in the books. Robusta is commonly cited in some "coffee pests" chapter, where C. canephora is described as the other-species that's less susceptible to disease due to its higher Chlorogenic Acid (CGA) content, but however has less quality and grows at lower elevation.

I'm about to finish a 3-day workshop on Robusta cupping, with the SCAA-certified instructor bringing in some West African and Indoensian robustas. We put it side by side with our country's own fine robusta producers.

The most interesting part of our cuppings is that some robustas were absolute head turners. Fragrances of honey, oranges, caramel. Tastes of lemons, candied sweetness, with minimal negative bean and roast traits. Their respective green bean samples were uniform and smelled beautiful. I happened to roast some of them for the class, and they exuded smells just like that of the arabica.

Even a dark roast that got to the table, wasn't so bad. It was chunky, dark-chocolatey. No zingy acidity. It was something customers would definitely like, especially if you were a cafe owner.

Of course, some robustas were typical -- rubbery, tannic, petroleum effects that you wouldn't give second consideration with your ladle. But these were badly processed, as expected. It showed both in the green samples, as well as in the horribly spread-out 1st-crack phase.

But many of you would ask: "Well of course well-made Robusta will yield a better cup. But I don't need to bring it into my life -- there's already not enough years in my life to taste every possible Arabica out there. Thanks for the info anyway."

But what if I told you that the unique thing about the light-roasted Robustas we cupped (and later brewed normally) had the uncanny ability to display its positive acidities, with no negative stinginess. With arabicas, the roaster has to "develop" it much further to stave off the acidity. With these ones, the roaster can really settle for an extremely cinnamon color but still display the acidity in its full spectrum. That's my opinoin so far. Thoughts?

wearashirt wrote:...But what if I told you that the unique thing about the light-roasted Robustas we cupped (and later brewed normally) had the uncanny ability to display its positive acidities, with no negative stinginess. With arabicas, the roaster has to "develop" it much further to stave off the acidity. . .That's my opinoin so far. Thoughts?

I have had Q-certified robusta. It cupped out at an 84 by the importer. I believe I gave it an 82? While it surprised me to cup as well as it did, it was no head-turner.

I'd be fascinated to get a sample of robusta that fits your descriptions to try out. To date, I've occasionally found it worthwhile to include a small bit of robusta in a blend when I was going for a really traditional Italian flavor profile, but I've never come across anything worth drinking for its own sake.

That sounds almost too good to be true! Tasty robustas would only be good for the industry. Any chance they were hybrids with Arabica? Or just 100% canephora? Either way, I'm interested.

I hope Paradise will bring some roasted and greens of this:

Check the CRS link to Taza d'oro

To Dave: I understand what you mean. But I guess one really has to apply a different framework with Robustas. There are families, regions, and entire cultures that have drunk Robustas all their lives. A common thread I've seen is that descendants of these families have went to live urban lifetyles whilst systematically leaving behind the farming tradition that drove their wealth in the first place. Even Arabica was going down the same path just a few decades ago. Perhaps... it was because Robusta had higher yield, that commodity markets plunged its prices for mass production, until it was pointless to even care for it, which is why it declined worse off that Arabica.

The best ones that we cupped were from Uganda and Tanzania. From my readings, Uganda is pushing the laboratory-side of things with Robustas. A foreign instructor from CQI facilitated our sessions. You guys should ask folks from SCAA if they have samples!

On blending: A few in the past I've tried post-mixing a heavy robusta into my regular espresso blend. The rhumminess and spiciness it lent was positively remarkable. This week, the (accidentally) dark roasted robustas we cupped were actually good. Too good. If we're apprehensive about comparing acidities in light roasts, then maybe we can compare french roasts. I'm putting my money on a dark roasted, premium robusta. 100%.

Chert wrote:I hope Paradise will bring some roasted and greens of this:

Check the CRS link to Taza d'oro

This article is golden! Thanks, Chert.

Thanks for this post. It never occurred to me to roast Robustas light, even the very high grade Ugandan or Indian ones. It's always been "take it very slow to the second crack" roasts, which has been the tradition in Italy for their espresso blenders.

Hi Jim. Would you know if Italy always sources premium to fine robustas? Because I was there and save of course for some crappy baristas -- I was served soem really good espresso.

wearashirt wrote:Hi Jim. Would you know if Italy always sources premium to fine robustas?

Historically, the bad Robustas go into instant coffee and all the high grade Robustas went to Italy. This has changed, but only a little, since a few third wave roasters world wide, as well as Nespresso, oddly, are now sourcing some very tasty robustas.

My impression is that we will see more Robusta in espresso as its profile rises, but we probably won't see it in brew coffee.