Coffee Industry

s coffee the latest species to be added to the changing climate? Well you probably guessed it—yes, researchers are quite worried about the future of the most prominent coffee industry species.3

Colorful Coffee Beans Still on Branchii

Coffee Overview

Although there are 124 species of coffee in the world, two species dominate the commercial coffee industry: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Robusta. While Robusta is usually used for instant coffee and makes up 30% of the world’s coffee consumption, Arabica, which is native to southern Ethiopia, is the species chosen by most consumers.4

Coffee prefers growing in shady, high altitude habitats where there is a wet and dry season. The coffee plant is evergreen with dark, glossy green leaves.5 Arabica is the shorter species, growing between 2.5 – 4.5 meters tall, while Robusta grows between 4.5 – 6 meters tall.6 Coffee beans as we recognize them are found inside the fruit of the plant (the coffee cherries), which can range from dark green to deep red.7 There are two beans inside every coffee cherry.8 Robusta beans have a circular shape, while Arabica beans are oval.9 While it takes the plant 6 – 8 years to be able to produce fruit, coffee plants can live to be up to 100 years old.10 Lastly, Robusta plants are easier to grow on a plantation because they have a higher yield and their high caffeine content is a chemical defense against pests.11 Even though coffee is native to Ethiopia, as of 2014, Brazil was the largest producer of Arabica, while Vietnam was the largest producer of Robusta.12

There are also other differences between the Robusta and Arabica species that consumers often take into consideration. First, Robusta has 2.7% caffeine content, while Arabica only has 1.5%. Robusta’s higher caffeine content causes it to have an intense burnt taste, meaning most consumers prefer the taste of Arabica. Another reason consumers prefer the taste of Arabica is that it naturally contains twice the amount of sugar than Robusta does.13

Coffee History

Legend has it that an Ethiopian herdsman discovered the coffee bean’s energetic effects in 850 A.D. Upon noticing that his goat was very alert after eating the coffee cherries, the herdsman tried the cherries himself and felt more alert as well. Word spread to the surrounding communities that energizing berries had been discovered.14 By the 1400s, people figured out that you could roast the coffee cherry beans.

When coffee arrived to Constantinople, coffeehouses spread throughout the city and eventually to Europe.15 Coffeehouses became a place where people could share ideas. Historian Mark Pendergrast stated, “One of the ironies about coffee is it makes people think. It sort of creates egalitarian places — coffeehouses where people can come together — and so the French Revolution and the American Revolution were planned in coffeehouses.”16 However, for all of coffee’s praises, its history is also one of slavery and environmental degradation. Many plantations used a slash-and-burn technique, meaning farmers cut down rainforests, planted coffee bushes, and then moved to another location once the coffee bushes depleted the soil.17

Coffee Industry Challenges

Arabica is unfortunately very sensitive to changes in temperature and rainfall. In 2012, a research team from the United Kingdom’s Royal Botanic Garden predicted the future of wild Arabica growth in Ethiopia with computer modeling and announced that the future looked grim. The team predicted that by 2080 the number of locations that wild Arabica can grow would decrease by 85% or more. The team is now working with the Ethiopian government to find conservation solutions. One idea is to move production to a higher elevation where the temperature is cooler.18

Why does it matter if the native wild Arabica species in Ethiopia goes extinct? It turns out that a decrease in the wild population could have devastating effects on the commercial Arabica varieties as well. Justin Moat, a researcher on the UK’s Royal Botanical Garden team, stated, “Wild species have much greater genetic diversity – anything happening in the wild populations is usually amplified in commercial varieties where the genetic div  ersity is so much less.”  The lack of genetic diversity in the commercial species is largely due to the way that coffee plantations were begun in the 1700s in the European colonies.  Without genetic diversity, Arabica coffee could be wiped out by disease, such as the coffee leaf rust.19 While other species of coffee do exist, Dr. Aaron Davis cautions, “Most wild coffee species either don’t taste very good or produce small crops, although there are some species that could have potential, either as crops themselves or as part of breeding programs. But this won’t happen overnight.”20

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