Best Posts in Thread: A Great Cup of Coffee in the Philippines

10 differences Between Robusta & Arabica Coffee
You may have noticed that some coffee bag labels brag about the fact that their coffee beans are 100% Arabica. Although it does sound like something magicians say, it isn’t gibberish – it refers to the type of coffee species in which the beans are from.

There are over 100 coffee species, however the two main ones that are widely produced and sold are: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora (also known as Coffea Robusta).

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Here’s a list featuring 10 differences between the two coffee species:

1. The most commonly known: Taste. Often Robusta has its taste described as burnt tires or rubbery, which… sounds disgusting (can you imagine one of our taste swatches on the front page being a burnt tire?). Why the bad taste?
   
   
2. One reason that the taste isn't as good for Robustais that it has more caffeine compared to Arabica. Which may sound like a positive thing but caffeine carries a bitter taste which makes it an unpleasant drink. In fact the Robusta bean has 2.7% caffeine content, almost double the 1.5% of Arabica.
   
   
3. Lipid & Sugar content: As mentioned here, Arabica contains almost 60% more lipids and almost twice the concentration of sugar than Robusta. This factor also probably has a big impact on why we prefer the taste of Arabica.
   
   
4. From a price perspective, green beans of Robusta is about half the price of Arabica green beans on the commodity market. (Robusta vs. Arabica)
   
   
5. Robusta is easier to tend to on the farm, has a higher yield and is less sensitive to insects - the extra caffeine is a chemical defense for the coffee seed as the quantity in the Robusta is toxic to bugs.
   

All of these factors help bring up the supply and lower the input costs for farmers to produce. With this more attractive price point, a lot of roasters back in the day would add Robusta to their blend in an attempt to reduce their costs and increase their profits. When coffee was initially sold in the 1900s the quality of coffee slowly and slowly deteriorated in an effort for companies to squeeze the most profit.

1. Where you’ll find it: Nowadays, it’s not often you’ll find Robusta in a coffee blend. If you’re drinking instant coffee? Well, that’s probably all Robusta… but you probably don’t care very much about taste. In your espresso blend? That’s a mixed bag. Literally. Oddly enough, Robusta is still widely used as part of espresso blends – specifically Italian style blends. It is said to help improve the Crema. However, generally at a detriment to the taste, which in our opinion the priorities may be out of wack.
   

One thing to note is despite the association with Arabica of being higher quality, and Robusta as being lower quality, it’s not always the case. Top notch specialty Robusta coffee will usually taste as good as or better than low end Arabica. However, high end Robusta isn’t widely used or available. Rather, Robusta is usually used as a filler or cost reducer.

1. The Shape: Robusta beans are much more circular, whereas Arabica are more oval.
   
   
2. Plant Height: Arabica usually grows between 2.5 – 4.5 meters compared to the 4.5 – 6 meter height of Robusta.
   
   
3. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) content: This picture unfortunately, isn’t true – however something that is actually a part of coffee is CGA. It’s a significant antioxidant and an insect deterrent. Robusta is 7-10% CGA and Arabica has 5.5-8% CGA.
   
   
4. Cultivation: About 75% of the world’s coffee production is Arabica, about 25% being Robusta. Brazil is the most significant Arabica producer and Vietnam produces the most Robusta.
   

 

The best cup of coffee you can get in the Philippines is one made from coffee beans you roast yourself. Roasting coffee is a great hobby, you get to do it your way. Find some Robusta & Arabica Coffee beans for blending to create a taste perfect for you. With a bit of experimenting you can roast coffee beans that will give you a cup of coffee to die for.

I now drink the best coffee ever. What you need to do is learn how to to roast your own coffee from green coffee beans, which gives the most amazing fresh flavor and scent. Not to mention the ability to casually mention you roasted this particular cup of coffee yourself...

Green Robusta coffee beans seem to be easy to find on Negros you might even be able to find Arabica and they last for several years in their dry state.. There easy to roast in an air popcorn popper, wok or almost any kind of stove top popcorn popper. My preference is an electric air popper. You can roast it to your taste. I started roasting my own coffee about a year ago and was amazed how good fresh roasted coffee was. When coffee is roasted it should be consumed within a week for best taste. When you find roasted coffee beans in the store you have no idea how long ago it was roasted. Do yourself a favor, get an air popper and some green coffee beans and see how good coffee can really be.

 

I was in Bali 3 weeks ago and went to a place where they produce and market that coffee and they give tours of the process. There is a tasting facility where you pay about 200 pesos for a tiny cup of the civet poop coffee and I gave it a try. Very rich taste, similar to a strong cup of Folgers Colombian brewed coffee. For the price they want for poop coffee I would just stick with Folgers Colombian and make a good strong cup of it. Of course that Colombian is expensive in Dumaguete. I paid 540 for a small container of it in Robinson's a couple months ago.

 

Thanks! I think I will have to pass on going up there for now as I don't have a 4WD vehicle. I will check out the market though. We go there at least once a week for fresh meat, fish, veggies, etc... (also go to Valencia for fresh veg and fruit). Will keep an eye out for the Cocoa. I love a good homemade hot cocoa especially when not from some prepacked large scale manufacturer (Nestle etc). I prefer to make my own from fresh ground cacao and muscovato sugar and fresh goats milk. Sounds weird maybe, but tastes heavenly good IMHO!

 

Your welcome nwlivewire, relax and enjoy, don't over complicate it like I did when starting out, roasting and brewing coffee is an art not a science. In the beginning I focused too much on temperature, time and trying to create an infallible process to roast coffee. There are too many variables that can change the process from day to day, ambient air temp, humidity, wind, the type of bean, quantity, etc, etc. My better cup's of coffee always consisted of at least 2 different types of bean, it seems to produce a more complete coffee with a better flavor and I can taste the difference because I drink coffee black. I always roast only 1 type of bean at the time and blend before grinding, the given roasting times can vary from bean to bean...

After roasting for over a year the method that works the best for me is...

Using about 1/3 cup of beans, (that is usually the size of the butter cup included with the air popper...

Start roasting beans, stir them a bit to get them moving in the beginning if needed, listen for the first crack to start and finish. On average for me first crack starts about 2 to 3 minutes into the roast and lasts for about 1 minute. (first crack is a louder defined cracking sound) ...

After first crack there will be a short pause (20 to 30 seconds) then second crack starts. (second crack is a quieter faster rolling crackle like Rice Krispies when you add milk to the bowl)...

A few seconds after second crack starts I remove the beans from the popper and cool them as fast as I can to stop the roasting process, put them in a coffee can overnight and there ready for grinding and brewing the next morning...

The process can make for a bit of a mess with chaff and smoke in the air, so its best done outside.

Don't let the chaff build up inside the popper it might become a fire hazard so keep the machine clean...

Enjoy your coffee and have fun...

 

thanks to your coffee posts, brian, the little woman recently scored some green coffee beans at the Tanjay public market they were grown in upper Pamplona. they're small beans, maybe robusta but, from what i read, the flavor and caffeine aren't characteristic of robusta.

we've never roasted coffee before but we roast peanuts and cacao in a steel wok so we have some experience pan roasting and this morning we took 50 grams of beans to the 2nd crack, cooled the beans down, did a press and it was well worth it.

p120kg.

i would appreciate a heads up if anyone finds beans more local to duma, especially arabica beans..

 

I have a very small subcompact vehicle 2wd with 800cc engine (and manual trans) great for tooling around Dumaguete or any city with traffic and parking problems but not one for mountain climbing.

Off topic I went to Yan Yan and they had a multitude of different cocoa powders in varying sizes for anyone interested (like I am). I will start by getting a couple the smaller bags and testing if good for hot cocoa with them.

 

Don't know if anything has changed since September last year but Bo's Coffee in Robinsons had a supply of Filipino single origin beans from different parts of the Philippines. Worth trying.