Plants and Flowers

Arabica beans have extremely refined flavor and contain about 1% caffeine by weight. This plant produces only 1 to 1.5 pounds of green coffee per year. This is the coffee that is the aim for many specialty roasters. This very variety accounts for about 75% of the world production. Arabica tree is sensitive to disease, frost, and drought; it demands very careful cultivation with observance of right climatic conditions.

Robusta beans come from a very fruitful plant that is resistant to disease. This variety contains about 2 percent caffeine and has more coffee cherries than Arabica tree. It gives from 2 to 3 pounds of green coffee a year. This variety is used for production of the lower coffee grades. Robusta can hardly be found in gourmet shops, but its beans are often used in the processing of soluble (instant) coffees and a number of popular commercial blends.

Liberica is the third popular commercial coffee plant, which is very similar to Robusta.