How to distinguish between Arabica coffee and Robusta coffee helps you master the foundation to successfully prepare cups of coffee with passionate aroma, bitter but sweet taste, with attractive consistency and color. If you are a Barista - a professional coffee maker, Hoang Hiep's secrets to distinguishing roasted and ground coffee beans that are popular around the world are for you.
Learn What Is Robusta Coffee?
Robusta coffee accounts for about 40% of world coffee production. Among them, Vietnam is the world's largest exporter of Robusta coffee. In addition, some other countries such as Brazil, India, Malaysia, Indonesia...
Robusta has a caffeine content of about 1.8 - 3.5%. The height of the tree can be up to 10m, grown at altitudes from 0 - 600m. Roasting temperature must reach 230 - 240 degrees Celsius to create color and aroma for coffee beans.
What is Arabica Coffee?
Arabica coffee beans, also known as tea coffee, have a caffeine content of about 0.9 - 1.7%, lower than Robusta beans. Foreigners love Arabica coffee beans, especially Western countries. The origin of Arabica beans is in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, in African territory. After the 17th and 18th centuries, Arabica coffee varieties dispersed in many parts of the world. The Arabica Typica variety was brought by the Dutch from Yemen to Batavia, the Netherlands, Central and South America. The Arabica Bourbon variety dispersed to Bourbon Island, France and Africa. Arabica beans appeared in Vietnam in the 19th century by a French missionary.
See more: The difference between coffee brewed by machine and brewed by filter
Compare Arabica And Robusta Coffee
To distinguish Arabica and Robusta coffee, you can apply one of the following easily recognizable characteristics:
1. Shape
2. Color
Although Robusta and Arabica beans have the same roasting temperature. However, Robusta beans are always darker in color than Arabica. When used to extract espresso, Robusta coffee beans have a low oil content (10 - 11.5%), so it helps stabilize the crema layer after extraction.
3. Taste
Arabica coffee is fragrant, rich in flavor, sour and less bitter because it contains a lot of sugar and lipids - compounds that create the flavor of coffee during the roasting process, so it is loved by Western countries.
On the contrary, Robusta coffee is more bitter and less aromatic than Arabica coffee because it has a much higher caffeine content in Robusta beans than Arabica. Caffeine and some other acids are the ingredients that create the bitter taste in coffee, so the more caffeine, the more bitter the coffee will be.
4. Biological Characteristics
Arabica coffee trees are suitable for growing in high mountains, have small canopy, oval leaves and are highly resistant to cold. Only after about 3 to 4 years can it be harvested. For Robusta, it is easy to adapt to the living environment. Robusta is resistant to rust, stem borers... Therefore, the yield of Robusta seeds is high even though the growing cost is low.
The Great Way to Combine Coffee Lines for a Premium Drink
Which type of Robusta or Arabica coffee is better? Coffee Arabica and Robusta, each type has its own advantages, it is impossible to say clearly which type is better. Arabica coffee is sour and fragrant, Robusta coffee is bitter. A cup of coffee is most delicious when it combines enough acidity, bitterness and passionate aroma. Therefore, baristas have found a great way to combine coffee beans together.
Depending on your taste, you can mix Arabica and Robusta coffee in many different proportions. If you like bitter and aromatic coffee, the mixing ratio is 30% Arabica and 70% Robusta. If you like sour coffee, on the contrary, the mixing ratio is 30% Robusta and 70% Arabica. If you balance bitter and sour flavors, mix them in a 1:1 ratio.
For those who are in the business of opening a coffee shop, this is a way for you to prepare coffee to suit the tastes of many customers. However, the price of Arabica coffee can be twice as high as Robusta coffee . Therefore, depending on your business ability and profit calculation, you can balance the ratio of these two types of coffee.
