Specialty coffee is usually associated with Arabica coffee beans, and Robusta coffee beans are usually associated with commercial-grade chocolate, instantaneous coffee, or mingles.
While Arabica is known for producing cup profiles that make it suitable for specialty coffee, a writer to its success has been the care and attention put into its production and processing- as well as the resources and research invested into encouraging its yield. This suggests that paying a similar degree of attention to Robusta could improve its quality.
In Brazil, specialty Robusta production is slowly taking off, and a handful of creators are starting to explore its market potential. Here’s what’s contributed to the recognition of this coffee, and how the country’s specialty Robusta scene is progressing.
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Tone of Specialty Robusta Coffee
Robusta is a cousin to Arabica, and is also known as Coffea canephora. While it generally has an inferior cup quality when compared to Arabica, it also has agronomic performance advantages, including heat accept and disease fighting. Robusta is also naturally resistant to pests( due to its high-pitched caffeine material ), can be grown at lower altitudes, and it is relatively cheaper and easier to grow than Arabica.
Arthur Fiorott is Marketing Manager of Conilon Brasil and is based in Vila Velha, in Brazil. He tells me, “When we analyze aspect[ Robusta] chocolate, we look for intense and present sensory attributes. Contrary to what is widespread,[ they] have high sournes …, medium sweetness, and low-spirited bitterness. They are robust coffees with a complex sensory variation.”
While specialty Robusta can have the above features , no two goblets will be exactly the same, as each will be produced and treated differently. Lucas Venturim is a fifth-generation producer, and his family-owned farm, Fazenda Venturim, alone develops specialty Robusta. He tells me that “we work principally with the peeled cherry, but we also display natural batches, sugars, and for fermentation we have various operations, including the addition of yeasts( initial cultures ). ”
Joaquim Inacio Sertorio Neto is a Robusta Grader and Conilon Consultant from Brazil, and describes the sensory profile of specialty Robusta as being “full-bodied … with[ a] long aftertaste, low-pitched[ to] medium acidity, low-toned bitterness, with greenbacks of fruits and spices.”
These calibers will need to be taken into consideration during cooking. Joaquim interprets, “As a roaster, I have to take the raw material into consideration …[ It] has half of the carbohydrates, less acids, and its formation become even more rigid than an Arabica”. This necessitates he’ll need to take care during roasting to preserve the coffee’s sweetness and sournes. Because of the specialised approach compelled, countless specialty Robusta producers roast and market their own coffee, as few roasteries have the expertise required to do so.
When brewing specialty Robusta, Lucas says that it should be kept in mind that it has more soluble solids than Arabica. “The recommendation would be to modify some of the extraction variables … to adjust the extraction. You can, for example … expend a lower water temperature, a slightly coarser grind, or even abbreviate the ratio of coffee to water.”
Joachim says that in the past, specialty Robusta was used to add more body and caffeine to coffee mergers, and was rarely performed as a single source coffee. This could be because its taste differs from Arabica and necessary coming be applicable to. He explains that Robusta and Arabica should not be equated, as they volunteer different attributes: “This is a[ chocolate] with higher caffeine material and less sweetness, so it may taste strange at first”.
The Rise of Specialty Robusta in Brazil
Robusta has already started to receive recognition in the specialty coffee nature . In 2010, the international Coffee Quality Institute( CQI) secreted its official Fine Robusta Standards and Protocols, as accommodated from the Specialty Coffee Association’s methodology for grading Arabica. THese etiquettes joined the Institute’s Q Grader Robusta Certification, which aims to help the industry differentiate between both good and bad Robusta.
While Vietnam is currently the world’s top Robusta producing country, Brazil is right behind them, and could overtake them in the future- establishing the country well placed to produce specialty Robusta. Some local creators have started to take notice. Lucas says “the community of[ Specialty Robusta] makes … we are always not very numerous … Everyone knows one another. We modelled a group in order to share information and ordeals, and we try to help each other, since everything is quite new”.
Organisations and radicals are being formed to help specialty Robusta producers meet with other producers and increase their acquaintance. The Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association has recognised the world’s germinating following of specialty Robusta, and that farmers are starting to farm it. Vanusia Nogueira is the Director of the SCA Brazil, and says that by increasing the quality of their specialty Robusta, farmers are helping generate market interest and acceptance.
A large percentage of specialty Robusta provides are high quality, further encouraging make. Arthur says that in Brazil, “a crop can produce around 80 to 100-hectare pouches( 4800 to 600 kg ), of which it is possible to have around 60 bags of high-quality[ Robusta] coffee”. This is likely to have contributed to Brazilian Robusta exportations increasing 59.5% from 2019 to 2018 and by 27.2% from 2019 to early 2020.
Producing& Selling Specialty Robusta
While the number of Brazilian Specialty Robusta producers is small, it could grow in future. Lucas explains that last year, “The demand for our chocolates far outstripped our yield, and fortunately we were able to help other creators to participate in this market.”
However, there are still drawbacks. As each bush is multi-stemmed, mechanisation is challenging, stimulating manual harvesting the most efficient way to separate fruits from the field without harming the cherries.
In addition, makes have to contend with Brazil’s reputation for producing commodity-grade coffee, leading many purchasers and consumers to dismiss specialty Robusta as being inferior. However, Arthur notes that this is changing. “The domestic market has changed a lot in the last two or three years … the specialty coffee marketplace is very curious and is always eager for news, and we’ve been gradually getting those opportunities “.
For more beings to adopt specialty Robusta as a viable option, they need to experience it firsthand. Lucas explains that most people have only read about Robusta, or tried a low quality sample of it. He had pointed out that after trying specialty Robusta for themselves, “many of them understood that this coffee would have the potential to attract a new audience[ and be] a new portfolio for their business.”
Specialty Robusta might not be as well known as specialty Arabica, but thanks to the efforts of its makes, this could change in the future. However, for it to find new sells in Brazil and across the world, coffee buyers will need to appreciate it as its own offering- without comparing it to Arabica.
By understanding what specialty Robusta has to offer, buyers can help introduce it to the market as a brand-new behavior to knowledge chocolate, and not as a permutation for Arabica. As Lucas says, “We want to produce a coffee that has its own identity, and that is a new portfolio for roasters, so that they can reach a brand-new gathering with this product! ”
Enjoyed this? Then Read Can Fine Robusta Be Considered Quality Coffee ?
Photo approvals: Lucas Venturim, Empraba
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