Welcome to Your Coffee Journey
Here's a question to start with. What do you think coffee actually is?
Most of us never stop to wonder. It comes in a bag, it smells good, and it gets us going in the morning. But every bean you've ever brewed started life as the seed of a bright red fruit, growing on a tree thousands of miles away.
In this first level we'll follow that seed all the way to your mug. Then we'll meet the two main types of coffee, arabica and robusta. By the end you'll know what's actually in your bag, and you'll taste the difference for yourself.
It Starts with a Cherry
Coffee grows on shrubs and small trees. Farmers raise the young plants in nurseries and then plant them out. A new tree usually takes about three to four years to bear its first fruit.
That fruit is called a coffee cherry. It starts out green and turns a deep, glossy red when it's ripe. Picture a small cranberry and you won't be far off.
Now, what's inside? Usually there are two seeds, sitting with their flat sides pressed together. Those seeds are the coffee beans. So a coffee bean isn't really a bean at all. It's a seed!
Sometimes a cherry grows just one rounder seed instead of two. That's called a peaberry. It's a fun word to know, and some roasters sell peaberries separately.
From Tree to Roaster
So how does a seed inside a red fruit turn into the brown bean you buy? We can break it down into a handful of steps.
- Harvesting. Ripe cherries are picked, either one by one by hand or all at once by stripping the branches or using machines.
- Processing. The fruit has to come off the seed, and fast, before it spoils. Some farms dry the whole cherry in the sun. Others strip off the fruit first and then dry the seeds.
- Hulling and sorting. The last papery layers are removed and the beans are sorted. What's left is green coffee: hard, pale and smelling a bit like grass or peas.
- Roasting. Heat transforms the green beans. They turn brown, crack and give off that wonderful coffee aroma.
- Grinding and brewing. Finally, the roasted beans are ground and mixed with water. That's the part you do in your kitchen.
Here's a nice way to think about it. Green coffee is like raw dough. Roasting is the baking. The flavour is already in the ingredients, but the heat is what brings it out.
We'll look at processing and roasting much more closely in the next level. For now, just remember the journey: cherry, seed, green bean, roasted bean, cup.
Meet the Two Main Species
There are many species of coffee plant, but nearly all the coffee we drink comes from two of them.
Arabica (Coffea arabica) is the one you'll see proudly printed on bags as "100% arabica". Robusta is the everyday name for Coffea canephora. In recent harvests the split has been roughly half and half, with arabica a little ahead.
So how are they different? Let's go through it.
Where they grow. Arabica likes it cool and high, often on mountain slopes. It's quite delicate and catches diseases easily. Robusta lives up to its name. It's tougher, copes better with heat and disease, grows at lower altitudes and usually gives bigger crops.
Flavour. Arabica tends to taste sweeter and brighter, with more variety. You might find fruity, floral or chocolatey notes. Robusta is usually heavier, more bitter and earthier. People sometimes describe it as woody, or even a bit like rubber.
Caffeine. This one surprises people. Robusta has roughly double the caffeine of arabica. Caffeine tastes bitter, which explains part of robusta's bite.
Price. Because robusta is easier to grow and yields more, it's generally cheaper. That's why you'll often find it in instant coffee and budget blends.
So is robusta simply the "bad" one? Not at all! Many Italian-style espresso blends include some robusta on purpose. It adds body, a kick of caffeine and a thick layer of crema, which is the golden foam on top of an espresso. Good robusta, carefully grown, can be really enjoyable.
Your Tasting Experiment
Time to put your taste buds to work. You'll need two coffees:
- one labelled 100% arabica
- one that contains robusta. Check the ingredients. Lots of instant coffees and Italian espresso blends list it.
The golden rule is to keep everything else the same. Use the same amount of coffee, the same amount of water, the same mug size and the same brewing method. If both are instant, make them identically. That way the only real difference is the bean.
Let them cool for a few minutes, then sip each one in turn. Here's what to notice:
- Body. Which one feels heavier or thicker in your mouth? Think of the difference between skimmed and whole milk.
- Bitterness. Which one leaves a stronger bitter grip at the back of your tongue?
- Sweetness and brightness. Does one taste livelier or fruitier?
- Aftertaste. What lingers once you've swallowed?
Most people find the robusta coffee heavier and more bitter, and the arabica lighter and sweeter. But trust your own mouth. There are no wrong answers here, only noticing.
Key Takeaways
- Coffee beans are the seeds of the coffee cherry. Most cherries hold two, and a single round one is a peaberry.
- The journey goes harvest, processing, hulling into green coffee, roasting, then grinding and brewing.
- Arabica grows higher up, is more delicate and tastes sweeter and more varied.
- Robusta is hardier and cheaper, with roughly double the caffeine, more bitterness and more body.
- When you taste side by side, change only one thing at a time.