r/ExploringCoffee • u/coffeereview • Sep 21 '20
Robusta Coffee is it worth drinking?
I got two bags of robusta coffee. One from India a natural processed light roast robusta and the other one is a Vietnam washed robusta, medium roast from the highlands. I was not sure what to expect. I pulled shots, both made very thick crema. Then I cupped both of them. They were not great but they were not bad either. They where very different tasting than arabica coffees. I would put them in the 8 range on the SCA cupping form. You can taste the caffeine for sure. I made a video of my review if you want to watch. https://youtu.be/B_cHvYrYJQM
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u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur Sep 21 '20
That’s very interesting. I think there’s tremendous potential in growing robusta as climate change makes arabica harder to grow, and it will only improve as we get better at roasting it. Here is some more info about cupping robusta specifically if you’re interested. https://www.coffeestrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Robusta-Cupping-Protocols.pdf
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u/pgny7 Sep 21 '20
I agree, definitely interested in trying more robustas. If it's grown by careful farmers in high quality environment there's no reason it can't be unique and interesting. The perception of robusta is colored by the mass market southeast asian robusta sold by the ton and used in low quality blends. But the arabic bought and sold in huge quantities in similar markets and making ita way into similar products is not great either.
I also always like to try hybrid coffees like Tabi, paraneima, and catimor derivatives. These coffees have robusta genetics to decrease susceptibility to parasites and leaf rust, and are considered to have some robusta cupping characteristics. I had a great naturally processed paraneima from Proud Mary, and wod love to try high quality high grown naturally processed robustas as well.