What is Coffee?
Have you ever wondered where coffee comes from? Not where you buy it, or what country it came from, but what coffee actually is. Who looked at coffee and thought to eat it, or cook it, grind it, add water to it and drink it? A part of why we decided to open a coffee roasting business comes from our deep dive into these questions, and how intricate and fascinating the world of coffee is. How coffee is grown, harvested, processed, roasted, and ground all affect the flavor of your cup, but the most important part of these aspects (and what we’ll be primarily focused on in this post) is how it’s grown. Everything after is a matter of farmers, roasters, and brewers unlocking the potential found in a particular coffee bean. So what is coffee?
Technically speaking, coffee is a fruit. Coffee beans are the seed found inside of a red (sometimes yellow), cherry looking fruit that grows on a tree. Sometimes coffee trees are described as shrubs or bushes as they vary in size and quantity. Planting coffee is a pretty serious commitment since it takes 3-5 years for a coffee plant to begin producing coffee cherries. Once a tree has reached maturity, a coffee crop then takes 6-11 months to ripen. This is why some coffees are less available at certain times of the year. Each country has specific harvest seasons, and depending on elevation and climate, some countries’ harvest times are longer than others and some even have more than one harvest season. Other factors that affect how coffee grows has a lot to do with the species of coffee tree.
According to the Specialty Coffee Association, there are over 120 different species of coffee plants. For the sake of brevity, we will primarily focus on the two most common of these species: Coffea arabica, and Coffea canephora (better known as robusta). Both of these species have very specific characteristics that impact not only how they taste, but also how or why they’re grown. Between arabica and robusta, there are thousands of varietals- some naturally occurring but most others cultivated to serve specific needs. These different types of trees each have their own unique traits such as higher crop output, lower or higher caffeine content, larger or smaller size fruit, higher durability, and longevity just to name a few. Before we get into the differences between arabica and robusta, let’s take a brief (and I mean VERY brief) look at the history of how coffee was discovered and distributed throughout the world to become the market that impacts over 50% of the world’s population.
Coffee Distribution
Although it is a debated subject, Coffea arabica originated in Ethiopia as a native species to the country. There is a legend that around the 9th century A.D., an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi tried the strange fruit after seeing his goats jump and dance around with lots of extra energy after eating the plant themselves. This is why you’ll find lots of goat references when it comes to coffee businesses.
Photo by Fachy Marín on Unsplash
There is no written record as to when coffee was first discovered, but most coffee historians agree that coffee was likely consumed by eating it for nearly 1000 years before the discovery of how to make the drink we know of today. This is why coffee’s discovery is debated- because we know that coffee originated in Ethiopia, but the beverage was discovered in Yemen during the 15th century. Yemeni monks discovered the secret to roasting coffee and turning it into a drink. Since alcohol was illegal in Muslim countries, coffee was a brilliant alternative beverage. Over the next couple hundred years, coffee started to gain some popularity in Europe, plants were taken to Yemen for coffee to be produced commercially.
From Yemen, pretty much wherever Europe colonized the world, coffee went along with it. By the mid 1850’s coffee had pretty much been distributed to where it’s grown today (with the exception of a few countries). If you want the play-by-play of the history of coffee, I would HIGHLY recommend checking out the Filter Stories Podcast. On their History of Coffee Series, they get into the specifics of coffee pricing, history, distribution and so much more.
It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that Coffea canephora (better known as robusta) was discovered in parts of Western Africa. The name “robusta” actually came from the fact that it is a more robust plant than the arabica cultivar. In the early 1900’s robusta was quickly distributed throughout the globe because robusta was significantly easier to grow than arabica. Today 60-70% of coffee consumed worldwide is Arabica, while the remainder is made up of Robusta. So what’s the difference between these two species of coffees? I’m glad you asked!
Arabica vs. Robusta
Arabica and robusta have their differences, both at the farm level (what the coffee tree looks like and how it grows) and what results when we consume them via beverage (how they taste). This isn’t a complete list of differences by any means, since there are thousands of varietals that have varying traits that may differ from what is listed here.
Photo by PROJETO CAFÉ GATO-MOURISCO on Unsplash
As mentioned previously, arabica is a lot more finicky than robusta trees. They only grow at specific (higher) altitudes (2000-6500 ft. above sea level) and they require a certain amount of sun, soil and moisture. It is impartial to temperature fluctuations, and is quite susceptible to extreme temperatures (hot or cold). Arabica coffee cherries take 8-11 months to mature due to growing at higher altitudes. Arabica trees typically have larger leaves and grow up to nearly 20 feet tall.
Robusta coffee is usually grown at lower altitudes (between 600 and 2500 ft.) making it easier to grow, since there is more land available at these lower altitudes. Since it grows at a lower altitude, it matures quicker than arabica, only taking 6-8 months. Robusta has nearly double the caffeine content than arabica trees which makes robusta less susceptible to disease and pest damage. Robusta trees only grow up to nearly 15 feet tall and have smaller leaves than arabica.
Limiting where it can be grown, how long it needs to grow, and accounting for loss due to disease or pest damage typically leads to arabica coffee being more expensive than robusta. At this point, you’re probably wondering why arabica makes up 60-70% of coffee consumed. In part it’s due to the fact that Robusta coffee was discovered later, however a more significant reason is that, many would argue, it tastes MUCH better. Don’t get me wrong- not all arabica is good, and not all robusta is bad, however robusta is typically known for its lower quality, intensity, bitter notes and higher caffeine content, while arabica is known for its natural sweetness and diversity in flavors.
Arabica typically lends itself to fruity, floral, and chocolate flavor notes. Robusta is usually very bitter, woody, and earthy. This is not always the case, since some of these flavors are highlighted more than others based on how the coffee is processed, roasted, and prepared. Similarly, arabica typically has a lower acid content than robusta, although this isn’t always the case. Robusta naturally has higher acidity, but arabica grown at particularly high altitudes will have a similar acid content.
Living Room Roasters currently only roasts specialty graded arabica coffees. We are particular to the natural sweetness that arabica has to offer. Our hands-on experience with robusta at the point of writing this blog is fairly limited, but we have yet to enjoy a coffee made with robusta beans that didn’t need the help of cream and sugar just to drink it. As I’ve mentioned along the way, it doesn’t mean that robusta is inherently bad. Taste is incredibly subjective, and what one person loves and enjoys, may not be the same for another. However, there are lots of ways to ruin coffee, but simply growing or drinking robusta is not on that list. Matter of fact, there are some interesting reasons why the coffee market is looking at robusta to help fulfill the global demand for coffee, but we’ll get into the details of that another time. For now, if you didn’t already know, hopefully, now you have a better understanding of where coffee comes from.
Are you interested in learning more about anything we discussed or is there anything you’d like to add? Let us know in the comments! We have a lot of information to share, but we’d love to talk about what you want to hear about!
References
Specialty Coffee Association. (n.d.). Coffee Plants of the World. Retrieved May 14, 2025, from https://sca.coffee/research/coffee-plants-of-the-world
World Coffee Research. (n.d.). Coffee Varieties Catalog. Retrieved May 14, 2025, from https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/
Harper, J. (n.d.). Filter Stories. Filter Stories. https://www.filterstories.org/
