A first for us and more than likely for you too. Our first foray into the world of C. Canephora (Robusta), but not any old Robusta. This comes from our good friend Pranoy Thipaiah and his family farm Kerehaklu Estate in the famous Chikmagular region of Karnataka west of Bengalaru. We visited Kerehaklu earlier this year and have a number of Pranoy’s Arabicas booked and on their way but wanted to take a step into his farm’s Robusta world as well.

We’ve paired their naturally processed Robusta with another new coffee and one of our favourite’s from last year, a naturally processed Ethiopian coffee from single producer Mohammed Abu Nura from the Jimma region. Both of these coffees were imported by Osito coffee.

Mohammed’s coffee brings the fruit and sweetness to the mix, and Pranoy’s Robusta brings the depth and spice. We tested various blend ratios and roast profiles and this 70/30 ratio gave the best balance. The name and the label design came from Francesca, the creative one in our small team and is based on the image on the Kerehaklu sacks which represents a traditional demon-like South Indian talisman used to ward off negative energies. Cool eh !

It's worth mentioning some of the specific traits of the C. Canephora species here. As the name suggests it's more resilient to pests and diseases than it's Arabica cousin (yes they are related). It grows at lower altitudes in hotter climates and accounts for 40% of the world's entire coffee production. World Coffee Research has a whole catalogue detailing the history and varieties via this link. One major reason C. Canephora is more resilient is it's higher caffeine content (typically 1.5 to 3.3 times higher). Caffeine is an Alkaloid synthesised by the plant through a series of chemical reactions and acts as a pesticide to protect the leaves and the fruit. Sensorially caffeine is extremely bitter. One tiny amount of raw caffeine on your tongue is incredibly bitter. So, as well as getting an extra caffeine kick, Robusta coffees will have that increased bitterness compared to Arabica.

Chemical compositions explain a majority of the taste profile differences. Robusta has less sucrose (required for the maillard reaction and therefore less sweetness), lower Trigonelline (which breaks down into volatile compounds ie less aromatics), higher amino acids (creates earthy notes), higher polysaccharides (more body), higher chlorogenic acids (higher bitterness).

I sent the preview of this post through to Osito's Stuart Ritson for checking and he mentioned something very interesting that he thought might be worth mentioning. Unlike Arabica, the Canephora species is not self-pollinating and therefore the setup costs in starting a farm is significantly higher.