The Difference Between ARABICA and ROBUSTA - The Two Best Friends that Hate Each Other

what's going on everybody rob Perry here and today we're going to be discussing two coffee species that pretty much rule the world one of these coffees is everyone's favorite and the other gets treated like the red bearded stepchild let's dive in although there are more than 100 species of coffee I think there's like 124 to be somewhere exact the two most popular are cafea arabica and Cafe conifera also known as Robusta now Arabic has many different types of varieties as typical bourbon Geisha ketamor and many more conifera also has a few varieties they have Robusta erecta and Uganda which is actually grown in Uganda but to be clear and to mitigate any confusion I just want to make it clear that kinefra and Robusta are kind of used interchangeably in the coffee industry the species itself is actually Arabica and conifera but you know everybody just kind of says Robusta for the species as well in this video we're gonna keep it as Arabica and Robusta but just know it is actually kinefra that makes any sense I hope it does that deserves a coffee break now Arabica and Robusta they differ in taste and growing conditions to the sugar and the caffeine content they physically look different and one is actually a lot more expensive than the other so let's define them both real quick and then we'll roll into some differences about both of them so starting with Arabica arabico is a species of coffee that was probably the first to be cultivated it still makes up a majority of the coffee that's consumed anywhere from 55 to 70 percent depending on the source you look at now arabica coffee was first cultivated in Yemen like centuries ago but it did not originate there it actually originated in Ethiopia which is why they call Ethiopia the birthplace of coffee that's where pretty much all the coffee that we consume kind of came from that little region so Arabica gets its name from the Arabian Peninsula it did not originate on the Arabian Peninsula it was brought there just wanted to make that clear and then there is Robusta now robust defines its Origins and Central and sub-Saharan Africa where it literally will just grow wild which Arabica will grow well too robust was discovered around the late 1800s and Robusta makes up about 30 to 45 percent of the coffee consumed now Robusta is actually growing in market share demand whatever you want to call it now this is as 20 of 2022. so these percentages May differ like you know five ten years down the road now Arabica and Robusta may have originated in the same area but let's discuss some of the major differences between them first of all is the Taste the taste all the subjective is very different between the two a replica has a higher sugar content and has like that fruity sweet Tangy type taste you know you can get some really good flavors from it where Robusta is kind of Woody spicy it can be very bitter and some will say it even has a rubber taste now I don't know who the first person was who actually like tasted rubber but uh you know thanks for taking one for the team I appreciate it now preferred taste can be completely different a across the world depending on the cultures most will add milk or some type of sugar derivative to robust to coffee and actually can create a very enjoyable cup to make Robusta palatable to you know somebody like me I have to actually change the rose profile I may have to change my entire Brewing recipe I may have to change the ratio I may have to change the grind size I may have to change the flow rate I may have to lower the Brew Temp and I actually may even have to just Brew it in a completely different device and actually think about that that could be a different video you know best way to make robust coffee may do that one but with that being said don't allow the negative press of Robusta to stop you from experimenting with it or getting it to try and roast or brew a different way or anything like that companies like coffee bean Corral and Sweet Maria's and a few others like they all sell small quantities of Robusta and also some other species that I haven't talked about yet and we'll get into future videos and and I'll link those companies down below if you want to go down there check them out um Coffee Bean Corral is one that sells Robusta I know they have have a Vietnam I think they have an Indian one now so yeah go down there check them out if you won't get you some robust and just experiment dude the next major difference is the growing conditions Arabica grows at a higher elevation than Robusta Robusta grows anywhere from sea level to around 800 meters which is about 2600 feet and Arabica grows anywhere from 800 meters to 2500 plus meters now pests and insects are more prevalent at the lower altitudes and Robusta is actually you know very well adapted to a standout where Arabica really isn't the Arabica tree is smaller than the Robusta tree at six to eight meters versus 10 meters for Robusta now again as far as like growing conditions climates different places these are just numbers as far as like cultivation goes out in the wild they can get pretty big the yields also differ as well robust to averages anywhere from 2300 to 4 000 kilograms of coffee per hectare where Arabica averages anywhere from 1500 to 2300 kilograms per hectare now a hectare is 2.47 Acres so kind of give you a little math there so the largest producer of arabica coffee is actually Brazil now they're not exclusively Arabica producing they they produce some robust as well but the largest producer of Robusta is Vietnam now again that is as of 2022 things could obviously change a few years from now if you know a country like the Congo takes over and it could get crazy the coffee industry could just another big difference is the caffeine content Arabica contains anywhere from one to one point five percent caffeine whereas robust it contains anywhere from two to three percent caffeine so literally about double what a replica has now as we kind of discussed in the cultivation portion some insects and pests and stuff like that are deterred because of the caffeine content in Robusta that's what makes it able to withstand more of the pests and the bugs and also some of the diseases that may affect the plant the next thing is sugar content Arabica contains 60 more lipids and also twice the concentration of sugar than Robusta this reason alone plays a big portion in why most people would prefer arabica coffee over Robusta they like the sweetness of it they like that taste it has come in the oils and stuff coming from it now the extra sugars and lipids and stuff like that that are in Arabic on that that's that's a huge portion of the roasting process this is where the chemical reactions come from the caramelizations the amazing Aromas of the arapa coffee and for that reason Arabica is usually going to be priced at a much higher rate than Robusta coffee and depending on the region and the quality of that cup I mean that Gap could be huge it could be anywhere from a two dollar Robusta to a fifteen hundred dollar a pound you know Arabic coffee another difference is the uh being appearance Arabica and Robusta both look different in the Cherry form their green coffee form and also their roasted form it may be just the process and the quality of coffee that I've purchased that uh that is Robusta but I've never seen it to be super clean or uniform or consistent or anything like that whereas if I buy some you know a Costa Rican or a Burundi or a Kenyan or something like that it's usually very consistent you know the quality is always there very minimal defects and stuff like that robusta beans are said to be more round like the green and the roasted but I've roast them and honestly uh they've been long shaped as well so I think it really just depends I'll give you a quick example what they kind of look like and like how similar they can be now remember this is just one sample out of hundreds that are out there so don't base too much judgment on this one little sample size so those are the main differences between Robusta and Arabica as coffee cross breeds and production spreads further into countries like the Congo new coffee varieties and possibly even new coffee species could be discovered now I'll be going over some of these in future videos I definitely want to touch on excelsa liberica and stinafella stenophella now look if I butcher any of these words guys I am sorry I'm from the south we have a hard time speaking English although we speak English so it's kind of tough so yeah definitely going to be looking to make some of those in the future I want to go into kind of some more of the coffee history I'll be working on that video I want to put a lot of detail into that one but uh yeah I hope you enjoyed this video hit me up in the comments if you have any questions if I butchered any facts I'm sure somebody down there will let me know and I look forward to learning from you as well a lot of times like y'all bring up things in the comments that I didn't realize so I appreciate any feedback that you give me that may correct anything that I may have said wrong thanks for tuning in try some Robusta experiment and just enjoy the coffee Journey dude please subscribe if you want to see more content like this and I will see you later foreign [Music]

Channel: Rob Pirie - Cedar Ota Coffee

Views: 59,857

Keywords: arabica coffee, robusta coffee, arabica vs robusta, what is arabica coffee, what is robusta coffee, coffee, specialty coffee, what is the difference between arabica and robusta, coffee roasting, Rob Pirie, best coffee beans, coffee species, coffea canephora, arabica beans, the best coffee beans, beginners guide to coffee, cedar ota coffee, coffee bean corral, excelsa, liberica, Coffea stenophylla, coffea arabica, coffea robusta, coffea, robusta vs arabica, vietnamese coffee

Id: EXsxu7gV6gA

Length: 8min 43sec (523 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022