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There are over twenty
species of coffee plant but only two species account
for the majority of coffee sold worldwide: arabica
and robusta.
Arabica and robusta coffee beans is a story about
quantity vs. quality. Their differences are the number
of chromosomes they each posses. Caffea Arabica has
44 and Caffea Canephora 22.
Robusta coffee beans constitute the majority of low-quality
mass-produced pre-ground coffee blends and freeze-dried
coffee found in jars and cans. Robusta coffee beans
are inexpensive, but bitter to taste and lack flavour.
Robusta is smaller, shorter in length, rounder and
has a distinct sour taste on it’s own. Robusta
coffee beans were discovered in the Belgian Congo.
But they didn't immediately catch on because they
lacked the flavour intensity of arabica coffee beans.
In fact, the New York Coffee Exchange banned Robusta
beans in 1912, calling it "a practically worthless
bean." |
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