Robusta tree flowering in India. Courtesy Kenneth Davids

Coffee Review readers are doubtless aware of one of American specialty coffee’s most persistent taboos: Thou shalt not roast or sell coffee from trees of the Robusta species. For decades, the North American specialty coffee world has avoided having anything to do with the Robusta (Coffea canephora) species, the hardier, cheaper alternative to Coffea arabica that typically supplies around 40% of the world’s coffee. This prohibition is largely tacit and unstated, but is based on a judgment of Robusta’s cup character as inescapably bland and bitter compared to Coffea arabica’s greater sweetness, brightness and complexity. In the U.S., almost all Robustas end up in instant coffees or canned supermarket blends.

But now, at the more adventurous edges of the specialty coffee world, there is a new interest in Robusta. Perhaps we haven’t given it a chance, the thinking goes; perhaps we haven’t tasted the really good ones, those that were meticulously processed or higher-grown. Maybe our entire set of coffee expectations is biased and off.

This interest is, in part, driven by the looming reality of global warming, which threatens to radically reduce lands suitable for the production of Coffea arabica, a notoriously fussy plant with narrowly defined needs. Arabica requires high growing elevations in the tropics, for example, with a combination of cool yet frost-free nights. Robusta, on the other hand, can thrive at hotter temperatures than Arabica and is generally much hardier.

Or at least we thought it was hardier, an assumption in part challenged by the recent devastating drought in Vietnam, the world’s largest producer of Robusta. Unprecedented hot, dry weather reduced Robusta production in Vietnam by 20% in 2023-24, although the 2024-25 crop is now expected to rebound. Recently, the search for a more climate-resilient coffee plant has extended to other coffee species: to Liberica, a hardy, low-elevation species widely grown and consumed in Southeast Asia and the Philippines; to Excelsa, a variety of Liberica particularly admired for its cup profile, and to Stenophylla, a rare and recently rediscovered species that research suggests tolerates high temperatures while displaying a range of sensory character similar to high-grown Arabica.

Dennis Ong of Excelsa Coffee with a young Excelsa tree. Courtesy Excelsa Coffee

Another reason for the recent rise of interest in Robusta may be a push by those Robusta producers who are serious about quality to get in on the specialty game, to have the same opportunity to attract recognition and higher prices for better, more distinctive coffees as those who grow Arabica.

A less high-minded reason for the recent attention paid to Robusta and other alternative coffee species is clearly specialty coffee’s craving for novelty. New processing methods and wrinkles (anaerobic, carbonic maceration, fruit co-fermentation) seem to pop up every season, as do regular announcements of exciting new varieties of Arabica (Sidra, Chiroso, Wush Wush), all of which suggest an industry that, however much it claims to value the traditional and authentic, needs more than an occasional goose from the unexpected and novel. And what could be more novel than an underdog bean that challenges the perhaps too familiar, hum-drum Coffea arabica?

Finally, an even less high-minded reason for attention to Robusta is the opportunity it offers to cut costs for green coffee. Although both Robusta and Arabica have been increasing in price because of diminished production, Robusta still costs roasters less per pound on average than Arabica — currently around 16% less according to figures published by Statista.com, a gap that has shrunk steadily since 2022, when Robusta cost around 60% less than Arabica.

Sample Sourcing Challenges

To survey what a consumer might expect from these non-Arabica species, we gathered and tested as many examples of specialty versions of Robusta and other non-Arabica coffee species as we could find for sale in roasted, retail format by North American and Asian roasters. Our idea was, as it always has been, to allow our consumer-enthusiast readers to taste and share in the latest trends and themes in the specialty coffee world.

And again, an interest in Robusta and other alternative species appears to be one of those trends. “Robusta is having a moment in specialty coffee,” UK coffee writer Sarah Charles declared in the April 15, 2025 edition of the industry publication Coffee Intelligence. “The underdog coffee bean that java snobs love to hate is finally getting some respect,” according to a Wall Street Journal quote featured on the Nguyen Coffee Supply website. On the institutional and technical front, the new, Robusta-focused organization Canephorum has recently released a meticulously vetted sensory tasting wheel particularly designed for the description and evaluation of Robusta. The announcement of the wheel’s debut on Instagram ended with a resounding rhetorical flourish: Robusta tasting “is no longer in Arabica’s shadow. It stands grounded, described, and ready — for those who dare to taste beyond the expected.”

The Evidence in the Cup

So, were we blown away by the originality and brilliance of the cup profiles of these alternative species?

Original? As in different from the usual range of Arabica cup profiles? Yes, definitely.

Brilliant, as in exciting, refreshingly different, where can I get more? Not so sure.

First of all, we found very few samples to cup. Given the insistent industry chatter around alternative species, we thought we might be deluged by possibilities.

Not so. We were able to find only 20 or so alternative-species coffees for sale to consumers, even after supplementing our usual roaster solicitations by a thorough scouring of the internet, credit card in hand. We surfaced many blends that combined one of these species (usually Robusta) with Arabica, but found very few offerings composed entirely of a single non-Arabica species. The third-wave preoccupation with offering single-origin coffees appears not to have extended as yet to these alternative species.

Nevertheless, we did turn up a provocative range of coffees that suggest both the challenge and the promise of bringing an expanded array of climate-friendly species to the global specialty table.

The Leading Contender: Robusta

Robusta makes up about 40% of the world’s coffee production. The usually smallish, spherical beans have 22 chromosomes to Arabica’s 44 and contain about half as much flavor-producing sugar and fats as Arabica, while, on average, twice the caffeine. The five Robusta samples we tested averaged a rating of 86.6, with a high of 92 and a low of 85. This average is around two to three points lower than analogous results from all-Arabica cuppings. For example, it is exactly three points lower than the average rating of 89.6 generated by 39 distinguished all-Arabica coffees from Central American producers we tested for a report in 2015.

Ting-Yeh Hsu of Zhuo Wu Mountain Farm in Alishan, Taipei with his Robusta trees. Courtesy of Dou Zhai Coffee

The highest-rated Robusta, the 91-point Dou Zhai Coffee Taiwan Alishan Robusta Natural, displayed what we felt was a fine and quite classic Robusta profile: deep-toned, balanced, velvety in mouthfeel, complexly nut-toned and nougaty sweet in the finish. It supported my suspicion that the more disappointing Robustas in this month’s report mainly lacked the kind of attention the specialty industry lavishes on the very finest Arabicas in the world. The uniform beans of this Taiwan-grown, single-farm Robusta implied careful, flawless preparation at farm and mill, while their large size suggests this coffee was produced from trees of one of the many recently developed varieties of Robusta rather than from traditional varieties, which generally produce much smaller beans.

Two less impressive Robustas reviewed here, both quite accessible to U.S. Coffee Review readers, were roasted and sold by Nguyen Coffee Supply, a vertically organized importer and roaster led by its charismatic founder, first-generation Vietnamese-American Sahra Nguyen. Nguyen Coffee also roasts Vietnamese Arabica, but it prominently features its commitment to Robusta, offering two pure Vietnamese Robustas: the medium-roasted, all-peaberry True Grit and the Hanoi Dark Roast.

The uniform beans of these two Nguyen Robusta offerings also suggest careful preparation at the farms in Vietnam from which Nguyen Coffee sources its coffees, yet both largely lacked the pleasing range of aromatics and balanced structure of the Dou Zhai Taiwan Robusta. The modestly darker roast of the Hanoi blend (86) rounded the nut and aromatic wood notes toward crisp cocoa, whereas in the lighter True Grit peaberry blend (85), a dry, herby character dominated, softened by a sweet grainy note I called caramel popcorn.

Robusta flowering in Dak Nong Province, Vietnam. Courtesy iStock/xuanhuongho

The purest expression of the Robusta species in this month’s reviews is the Z Street Coffee Kaapi Royale, reviewed here at 86. Kaapi Royale is the highest grade of Indian Robusta, and probably the highest grade of Robusta in the world, with large, uniform beans showing zero physical imperfections. The Kaapi Royale grade is also wet-processed, which means the cup shows minimum impact from processing variations. The result is a Robusta cup at its purest. However, Z Street brought this flawless bean to an extreme light roast, netting a coffee delicately brisk and sweet, with cocoa and fig notes that give way to a disappointing bitterness in the finish. This perfectly prepared bean would have benefited from a more developed roast.

Robusta and “Strong Coffee” Blends

Recall that Robusta packs considerably more caffeine than Arabica, about twice as much. Two coffees we review this month take advantage of this attribute. Thanksgiving Coffee, a pioneering specialty coffee roaster located on the northern California coast, first offered its high-caffeine, Robusta-heavy Pony Express blend to passing truckers and local college students in 1977. It remains a steady seller. We review its current dark-roasted, chocolate-leaning incarnation here at 87.

More recently (2012), Death Wish Coffee launched its Robusta-heavy brand, riding its defiant drink-strong-coffee pitch to success as a mainstream fixture on the middle shelves of supermarkets. We review the medium-roast Death Wish coffee here at 84. This medium-roast Death Wish sample is the only coffee in our testing that bore both USDA organic and Fair Trade USA seals. In the cup, it is intense but blunt and monotoned.

Another Climate-Change Candidate: Coffea Liberica

If Robusta beans contain more caffeine and less sugar and fats than Arabica beans, then Liberica, a heat-tolerant, hardy coffee species widely grown and consumed in the Philippines and Malaysia, leans in the other direction. On average, Liberica, as well as Excelsa, now classified as a variety of Liberica, packs less caffeine and considerably more sugars and fats than either Robusta or Arabica.

These gentle, low-caffeine, high-sugar beans are hardly modest in their growing habits, however. Everything about Liberica (and Excelsa) is big — the trees (Liberica trees may grow as tall as 50 feet), the leaves (a single Liberica leaf can grow as wide as a foot), and the fruit and beans (both about double the average size of Arabica or Robusta). These proportions are probably one reason Liberica and Excelsa have never taken off to challenge Arabica’s domination in the market the way Robusta has. The very tall trees, which tend to grow up rather than out, need to be picked and pruned with ladders, increasing production costs. And the beans arrive on the trees encased in thicker layers of fruit than Arabica, meaning slower drying times for the natural, dried-in-the-whole-fruit preparation typical for these species. Consequently, Liberica’s and Excelsa’s climate resilience comes with relatively high production costs, costs that apparently approach those of Arabica.

In its favor, the Liberica cup profile has a reputation for fruit and sweetness, perhaps by association with the thicker layers of fruit covering Liberica beans. The two examples of straightforward, natural-processed Liberica we tested, including the 88-rated Ghost Bird Malaysia Sun-Dried Liberica reviewed here, did show distinct suggestions of low-toned fruit. Nevertheless, neither read as particularly sweet. Since recent research sponsored by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has conclusively confirmed that sweetness in coffee cannot be associated with sugars in the beverage (not nearly enough sugar in brewed coffee to be detectable) and must be related to other, as yet unidentified factors, it appears that we can’t assume that the higher sugar content in Liberica and Excelsa beans necessarily translates to more sweetness in the cup.

The Liberica and Excelsa species both produce large fruit, large leaves and large trees. Courtesy Excelsa Coffee

No Sweetness, No Sweat

But, no matter. If sweetness doesn’t come with the bean, today’s specialty producers can make it happen — naturally. Two roasters sent Liberica coffees that were processed using now familiar techniques that intensify the perception of sweetness. The processing for the top-rated Ghost Bird Malaysia Liberica Anaerobic Natural (92) involved sealing the fresh-picked fruit inside sealed drums for 20 days, creating a version of the now familiar, intensely sweet, perfumy anaerobic profile. This anaerobic was a particularly unruly coffee, with a wild, overlapping bouquet of herbs and spices and a bright, candy-store fruit. We also review a more conventional dry-processed Liberica from Ghost Bird, the Malaysia Liberica Sun-Dried Natural, at 88. Low-toned banana, pineapple and carob drive its deep, though rather stolid profile.

Euphora Coffee, an innovative Taiwan roaster, sent three Liberica coffees that upped the anaerobic ante still further. These Liberica coffees were grown and processed by the natural, sun-dried method in Uganda, but after delivery in Taiwan they were subject to additional oxygen-free fermentation with natural ingredients added. The Euphora XO Liberica added French XO Brandy to the sealed tank, the Euphora aPeach added peaches, and the Euphora Liberica Rose added Taiwan-grown organic rose petals. The rose-petal version struck us as the most interesting and original of the three, so we published that 88-point review here. Remember that we assign ratings to coffees blind, without knowing the stories behind these coffees. We blind-rated the Liberica Brandy XO at 90 and the aPeach at 83.

Excelsa: The Long-Shot Contender

Finally, there is Excelsa, once considered a separate species, but in 2006 officially deemed a variety of Liberica: Coffea liberica var. dewevrei. Unlike Robusta or Liberica, Excelsa enters global coffee consciousness with a positive reputation. If Robusta comes to the global tasting table with a bad rap (bitter, simple), Excelsa, despite the fact that relatively few in the specialty coffee world have sampled much of it, comes with glowing praise. “Excelsa coffee offers a unique and complex flavor profile characterized by a blend of fruity, tart, and sometimes spicy notes, with a bright acidity and medium to full body,” gushes Google AI.

Darwin Castro of the International Excelsa Coffee Organization with an Excelsa sapling. Courtesy Excelsa Coffee

The only reason we have any Excelsa at all available in the U.S. specialty world may be owing to a single company: Excelsa Coffee. Like Nguyen Coffee Supply, the U.S.-based champion of Robusta, Excelsa is a vertically organized company. But Excelsa situates itself wider and deeper in the supply chain than Nguyen: It sells Excelsa, both roasted and green, imports Excelsa, and apparently now works closely with farms that grow Excelsa. It was founded by two business people turned coffee enthusiasts, Olin Patterson and Michael Mazzotta. Like Nguyen Coffee, Excelsa Coffee strikes me as an admirable effort to expand the specialty direct trade paradigm to include farmers and regions that, owing to arbitrary circumstances of climate and geography, find themselves stuck producing coffee species not favored by dominant tastes.

However, based on our limited tasting for this report, Excelsa Coffee, like Nguyen Coffee Supply, still has some work to do. We rated its smoky, briskly sweet Excelsa Seasonal Blend at 86. Unlike Nguyen, however, which appears ready to stand pat with the quality of the Robusta it currently imports, Excelsa is launched on a trajectory of innovation and development. The founders sent us a sample of an experimental honey-processed Excelsa produced on a Philippines farm they are working with that is not yet available retail, but which, compared to the company’s current offerings, showed an impressive gain in sweetness and aromatic complexity. And, to build on the subject of pending Excelsa availability, an Excelsa produced in Puerto Rico by producer Rancho Contento, again, not widely enough distributed yet for us to review, showed considerable promise.

A Sensory Tendency Across Species

Nevertheless, it is striking how all of this month’s single-species samples share one very broad sensory tendency.

At the heart of the sensory bundle of a high-grown, cleanly processed Arabica coffee is a complex, sweet-tart tendency that in the ordinary language of specialty coffee is often summed up with the clumsy, misleading term “acidity.” I don’t think it is accurate to sum up such a richly mutable sensory tendency in a single word, particularly a term that comes loaded with both negative connotations at the popular level and, as far as I can tell, is also vague and ambiguous at a technical or chemical level. Coffee describers often use the term “brightness” for this sensory complex, in my view a better word by far than “acidity.”

But whatever it is, and however we may attempt to describe or identify it, this sensory complex appears to be largely subdued or lacking in all samples of all three of the non-Arabica coffee types we survey here, at least when they were subject to orthodox processing like the washed or natural methods. Throughout, there was a leaning toward an often inert bittersweetness and a tendency to aromatic simplicity. We found these broad tendencies even in the best we tested, like the 91-rated Dou Zhai Taiwan Alishan Robusta.

There were, of course, compensating pleasures to be had in the more successful of these species: dried or sweet-savory fruit, for example, and generous nut notes, often sweet-toned (think cashew), at other times pleasantly bitterish (walnut). These nut notes often leaned toward a crisp, dry cocoa. Overlapping the nut tones were often aromatic wood notes, usually manifesting in lighter roasts as a fresh-cut lumberyard fir, or cedar in somewhat darker roasts. Fresh leather, sweet pipe tobacco, and herb and spice notes were also common.

An example of refined Robusta production in India. Buttercup Bold, Palthope Estate’s brand of Robusta, is organically grown and massively intercropped in shade. Courtesy of Kenneth Davids

Refining the Alternative Species Cup

But for those species-specific pleasures to consistently express themselves and achieve support among Arabica-loving consumers may require more than influencer skills and fancy websites. It may require the same obsessive pursuit of refined excellence throughout the supply chain as is now at play in the world of Arabica coffee.

Because the reason for the increasing numbers of 94-plus scores on Coffee Review is not ratings inflation, nor is it sensory prejudice in favor of Arabica. Rather, these high scores are a manifestation of a global obsession among coffee producers, exporters, importers and roasters to create the finest presentation of the Arabica species possible: to win green coffee competitions, to be the coffee that helps win brewing competitions, to sell for astonishing prices on internet auctions, and to earn high ratings on Coffee Review.

Until Robusta, Liberica and Excelsa attract something close to that same degree of attention and refinement, I expect that the modest ratings success achieved by the coffees reviewed for this report will remain the norm for these species. In fact, the average ratings in this month’s reviews are something of an achievement. We had no samples come in under 80, for example. We simply tasted a lot of decent coffees that simply did not quite take off.

A Caveat: Alternative Species, Espresso and Blending

Coffee professionals and enthusiasts who have come along this far will, of course, recognize the limits of this month’s sourcing and testing protocols and the conclusions we draw from them. We have only looked at these non-Arabica options as single-origin, standalone brewed coffees, whereas Robusta, in particular, is at its best in traditional espresso preparation, as well as a component in blends for all brewing methods.

The relative absence of acidy brightness in this report’s samples may be a virtue in traditional espresso production, given that the sensory intensification generated by espresso brewing tends to turn what might be pleasing brightness in a brewed coffee into not-so-pleasing sharpness in an espresso shot. And in blends, generally, regardless of brewing method, Robusta is useful as a way to knit together, deepen and round the impact of more assertive coffees, a practice at which continental European roasters are particularly skilled.

But if the current media attention to Robusta and interest in alternative species continues to build, we may see these three species break out of their roles as interesting sensory underdogs and decisively expand the fundamental range of coffee excellence.