ROBUST variety coffee, let\'s get to know it better

The scientific name isCoffea Canephoraand only later did we begin to use the term "robust"to underline its adaptability and resistance to dry climates and to attacks by diseases and parasites.
This property descends from thehigh percentage of caffeine(about double compared to Arabica) which acts as a natural pesticide.

It is a plantevergreen, which comes to10/12 meters highand whose leaves reach 40 cm in length; thegrainsI amsmaller than those of Arabica, more rounded and with a marked central groove.

The Coffea Canephora, whose origin is to be traced back to the regions of West Africa, today sees its production area much more extensive including the tropical belt that goes from Africa to Indonesia, with altitudes ranging from the plain to approximately 600 meters above sea level.

One of the main producers of this variety is Vietnam, followed by Brazil, Indonesia, India and the Ivory Coast.

In the past, the cultivation of Coffea Canephora made it possible to respond quickly and at a lower cost to the growing demand for coffee starting after the war. In fact, thanks to the larger production areas and the abundance of the harvest, it was possible to produce at lower costs, allowing to meet the demand of a growing audience whose economic possibilities slowly began to grow again after the conflict.

In addition, the large American coffee chains began to use large percentages of this variety of coffee, both to meet the demands of the expanding market and to be able to reduce costs by obtaining, at the same time, a coffee with a high percentage of caffeine. .

The Robusta species contains more caffeine than Arabica (2-2.5% versus 1-1.5% for Arabica). From this it can be deduced that a cup of Robusta coffee alone can contain over 200 milligrams of caffeine.

And sorecommended for those who prefer a full-bodied drink with an intense flavor and a slightly higher than average amount of caffeine.

Deciding whether this type of coffee is better or worse than Arabica is naturally a matter of personal taste alone.

I particularly bitter coffees, and therefore excellent to extract from the robusta, are andextremely popular in southern Italy(classic Neapolitan coffee), less common in the north of the peninsula, and almostabsent in France and northern Europe.


Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published