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Best Arabica Coffee Beans
A look at why coffee lovers prefer arabica coffee.
Published January 26, 2022
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Jennie Backteman
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
You may be wondering why coffee producers proudly market their coffee as 100 Arabica Coffee. This article will explain exactly what arabica coffee is and why it is so popular among coffee lovers around the world.
Any true lover of coffee knows that it’s all about the beans. Whether they are freshly ground or ground prior to packaging, the true flavor comes from the type of bean, or beans, being brewed. While there are various types of coffee beans on the market today, most coffee drinkers would agree that genuine Ethiopian Landrace arabica coffee reigns supreme.
It is the type of arabica coffee that offers the best taste simply because the chemical composition of the beans is still the same as the original beans have always been for thousands of years. If you are in the market for the best arabica coffee beans, the following information will give you the background you need to make the perfect choice every time.
What Is It About Arabica Coffee That Makes It So Special?
Those new to the world of coffee often wonder why arabica coffee is given so much attention when packaging various brands. The reason for that is quite simple, but in order to understand why this is, it’s important to first understand exactly what arabica coffee is.
Actually, there are two main species of coffee in production globally, one of which is arabica. The other main species is robusta which has a distinct difference in composition than arabica coffee, resulting in a totally different flavor no matter how it’s roasted.
What makes arabica coffee the most popular species around the world is that it is sweeter in flavor, offering a smoother cup than any of the robusta blends or hybrids. Robusta is more acidic and most often used for espresso (dark) roasts.
Let’s Talk About Arabica Roasts
Now that we’ve mentioned roasts, it’s good to understand how arabica beans are typically roasted. While some people prefer a light roasted arabica coffee, the most popular is a medium roast bean. Yes, arabica can be darkly roasted for espresso, latte, or cappuccino drinks, but it isn’t common to find arabica espresso.
For latte and cappuccino which are heavy on the milk/cream side, some coffee lovers prefer 100 arabica coffee darkly roasted because they prefer a smoother taste. That’s the beauty of arabica coffee beans. They always provide a much smoother and subtly sweeter taste than robusta beans, which are way more acidic.
Oddly, what many people don’t realize is that the darker the roast, the lesser the level of caffeine will be. Lightly roasted arabica coffee beans are often marketed as breakfast blends for good reason. That would be the higher caffeine content.
The key takeaway here is that caffeine is lost to some extent in the roasting process, so if you want that morning kick, find a light roast arabica coffee. Medium roasts still have a significant amount of caffeine, but darkly roasted beans have but one thing to boast and that would be that heavy, acidic flavor. Even though robusta beans are generally higher in caffeine prior to roasting, it is the typical dark roasting process of robusta that makes them less suitable for a morning cup.
A Look at Arabica Coffee Quality
This is another question many coffee lovers have. They want to know how to determine the arabica coffee quality because they see it coming from all parts of the world. Actually, this is more important than you might realize. Let’s look at this for a moment as well.
Arabica coffee is believed to have originated in Ethiopia where it still grows in the wild today. It has actually been traced back to Ethiopia which is also called the birthplace of coffee. From there, scientists believe it made its way into Yemen, and from there it has ‘traveled’ to various regions around the world.
These regions where arabica coffee is grown best would be tropical areas with high elevations. With that said, yes, arabica coffee can be grown in suitable regions, but it is thought to be best when it originates from the area of its birthplace. That would be Ethiopia and then Yemen next in preference.
It only takes looking at the labeling to see where the coffee is likely to have been grown. For example, 100 Arabica Coffee Dubai is grown and processed in Ethiopia. They are true coffee lovers there and when looking to brew a cup with the best 100 arabica coffee beans, they will choose Ethiopian grown coffee every time. Therefore, if you find coffee packaged and sold from Dubai, it will undoubtedly be from the parent of all arabica beans - Ethiopian beans.
Various Types of Arabica Coffee
Here is where the true coffee aficionado understands the differences between the various types of arabica coffee beans. While arabica coffee is one of two main species of coffee, there are various ‘types’ of arabica beans brought about by their migration around the globe.
As mentioned above, coffee has been traced back to its land of origination, Ethiopia, and from there to Yemen. As would be expected when cultivating any type of plant, it would vary to some extent based on the soil, elevation, and climate in which it is cultivated.
Seeds from the coffee plants growing in Yemen were brought to India and from there to the Island of Bourbon and Java, then onto Brazil. This would have been at some point in the 1700s by the Dutch East India Company. Coffee now produced in those regions is referred to as Typica and Bourbon arabica coffee. In current times, about 40% of arabica coffee grown and sold worldwide comes from Brazil which produces both Typica and Bourbon types of the arabica beans.
Another of the main types of arabica beans are not true arabica in that they are hybrids of the arabica/ robusta cross. These beans would, by their very nature, be more acidic than a pure arabica coffee bean and not as popular among a large portion of coffee drinkers around the globe. This type is labeled as being Introgressed, or to put it in laymen’s terms, hybrid.
Key Points on the Best Cup of Arabica Coffee
Taking all of the above information into account, you could say that the best arabica coffee comes from the Ethiopian Landrace type, or the original coffee known to mankind. It is the same coffee grown today as it was way back in the beginning and, as such, probably contains the exact genetic makeup as it did back then. Looking again at 100 arabica coffee Dubai coffee houses prefer, you can see that it’s the Ethiopian Landrace for this very reason.
Also, it’s important to look at another key takeaway in that arabica coffee is less acidic and has a slightly sweeter taste than its counterpart, the robusta species. Few people actually prefer a stronger, more acidic flavor and this is why it is often made smoother in coffee drinks like latte and cappuccino. If you want a truly smooth and subtly sweet cup of coffee, go for arabica coffee every time.
Then there’s the roast to consider. Bear in mind that as the length of time a coffee bean is exposed to heat, the lower the caffeine content will be. For this reason, a truly good morning cup of coffee will be a light to medium roasted bean made from 100 arabica coffee beans.
Another point only hinted at above is the grinding of the beans. Freshly ground coffee beans will also be preferable to pre-ground coffee because you will be releasing fresh flavor locked into the bean. Some coffee lovers even buy raw beans to roast them to a desired color at home. While this isn’t typical, it can be done. Just remember that the lighter the roast, the more caffeine you will get and the smoother the flavor will be.
A Final Word on Arabica Coffee Quality
One last thing to be aware of is that if you want the true taste of arabica coffee quality, then always shoot for 100 arabica coffee. Blends are nice, as are the other types such as Bourbon or Typica, but they don’t have the same authentic quality and taste as beans grown in Ethiopia or Yemen.
Also, although it wasn’t mentioned, seeds from hybrids will never have the same quality, characteristics, and flavor of the parent plants. Hybrids between two arabica types are okay, but if a grower wants to produce a commercial grow of thousands of plants, they need to be cloned, not grown from seeds if the parent properties are to be authentic. Simply put, once it is produced as a hybrid (cross of two types) it needs to be cloned, not grown from seeds.
This is something you will never worry about with genuine, high-quality arabica coffee because it can always be grown from seeds. That’s the final word on arabica coffee quality. If you want the real thing, only buy the real thing. That would be 100 arabica coffee beans.
About the author
Jennie Backteman
I´m a ultramarathon runner, landscape designer and a coffee lover.
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