Coffee Basics
Beans and species
Almost all coffee sold is Arabica or Robusta, but they are not the only species, and the fruit the bean grows in matters too. These guides cover Liberica, Excelsa and the Philippine barako, and what a coffee cherry is before it becomes a bean.
Arabica vs Robusta: The Two Coffees Almost Everyone DrinksTwo species grow nearly all the coffee in the world. They differ in the plant, the climate they need, the caffeine they carry and the cup they make, and most bags only tell you about one of them.
What Is Excelsa Coffee?The fourth commercial coffee, grown in tiny quantities, tasting like neither arabica nor robusta and reclassified out of its own species.
Barako Coffee: The Philippine Liberica That Nearly DisappearedBig beans, a smell you can identify across a room, and a crop that went from a national export to an endangered heritage product in one century.
What Is Liberica Coffee?The third commercial coffee species: huge trees, big lopsided beans, a smoky and divisive cup, and a history that runs through a plant disease.
What Is a Coffee Cherry?Coffee is a seed inside a fruit, and almost everything that decides how it tastes happens before it stops being one.
Espresso Beans vs Coffee Beans: Is There a Difference?Espresso beans are coffee beans. The label describes how they were roasted and blended, not a different plant, and it matters less than the packet suggests.