A Useful Guide To Organic Coffee Beans

Two main species of coffee beans comprise almost ninety percent of the beans used in all the coffees of the world. This means that whatever it takes to grow the arabica (Coffea arabica) or robusta (Coffea canephora) plants, people are going to do so. This includes growing them organically if they are included in a fair trade coffee program, no matter how difficult that might be. These are two very valuable crops, and there's always a market for them.

You can buy coffee made from both types of beans; however, except in the most gourmet flavors, there will usually be some sort of blend of the two. Arabica provides the richest flavor, while robusta tends to be a little harsher. Yet between the two species, the arabica is more difficult to grow. It prefers a shadier growing site, and it's also more prone to disease.

Robusta, meanwhile, is hardier and has more resistance to pests. It can also have up to twice the caffeine content as its counterpart. So most mainstream coffees will be made mainly from robusta coffee beans, with some arabica to enhance flavor, while the gourmet blends will have much higher arabica content.

When it comes to fair trade coffee, even the more expensive and difficult to grow arabica coffee plant is cultivated, because of the value and rich flavor of the coffee it produces. But it grows better in some parts of the world than in others, so is more likely to be part of the fair trade programs in those regions. These include northern Africa and, as the plant's name suggests, on the Arabian Peninsula. The Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java provide nearly perfect conditions for arabica, and produce coffee beans with lower acidity than coffees from Africa or South America. Indonesian arabica coffee helps produce a richer flavor when blended with them.

For poorer farmers, fair trade programs may be the best way of making it worth their while to produce coffee beans from the arabica species. A guaranteed price if the coffee is fair trade certified will help mitigate the extra work it takes to grow the plants without fertilizers or pesticides, even if the plants are more susceptible to pests. Both arabica and robusta species are highly valued for many reasons.

Ana writes for The Coffee Mug, a blog featuring information of interest to coffee drinkers everywhere. Read her latest articles: A Guide to Coffee Roasting Machines and Tips for Cleaning Your Coffee Maker.

Tags: coffee, coffee beans, organic coffee beans

September 07 2010 | coffee | No Comments »