Specialty robusta is having a moment. Once looked down upon in comparison to arabica for its supposedly inferior taste and reputation as a cheap option for instant coffees, robusta’s popularity has grown in recent years as producers and researchers have worked to improve its quality.
But while robusta is well known, it is in fact only one of several varieties of the Coffea canephora species (because it is so common, most people erroneously refer to the whole species as robusta). As interest in high-quality, specialty robusta grows, other canephora varieties, like Napo payamino and Kopi java, are also becoming more available, particularly in Europe.
Like many coffee pros around the world, Carly Green, a coffee educator and Q grader based in the Netherlands, has taken notice of the growing variety of canephora options. Green runs Cherry Love Coffee, a subscription service that sources coffee from roasters all around Europe.
She opted to make the upcoming edition of the Cherry Love subscription box all about canephora, harnessing the insights of three canephora experts to invite drinkers to explore and appreciate this oft-misunderstood coffee species. Folks can order their boxes now.
Why It Matters: Even as an experienced cupper and Q Grader, Green says that she was taken aback when tasting canephora samples to choose for the box. “I audibly gasped multiple times,” she says, but that just made her more confident in canephora’s potential.
“In recent years, cultivation and processing methods have improved, and the quality of canephora has come a long way,” Green says. “I wanted to showcase that by featuring four specialty canephora coffees, each with its own unique profile, so people can really experience the range it has to offer. This is the sort of sensory experience most people—even coffee pros—haven’t had the chance to try side by side.”
Pre-orders for next month’s box close on November 1, and it will ship to the U.S., the U.K., and across Europe.
Green has chosen four canephora coffees from roasters in Europe, includingSuedhang Kaffee, Kaffeemacher, and Wiewaldi Coffee Roasters in Germany and Chunky Cherry Coffee in the Netherlands. She has also assembled three experts on canephora to provide insights into the species: Dr. Fabiana Carvalho, a neuroscientist who is working on a canephora flavor wheel; Mikolaj Pociecha, a roaster and author who has written a book on canephora; and Lukas Harbig, co-founder of the importing company Cumpa as well as Canephorum, a platform focused on canephora education.
The Full Extraction: The idea behind Cherry Love Coffee is to make coffee education fun and approachable. Every month, subscribers receive a selection of coffees with no identifying details: The coffees are a mystery to start, and an activity book guides participants through a tasting exercise that includes expert insights into the month’s chosen topic. September’s box explored Ethiopian landrace varieties, for instance, while July’s looked at seasonality and freshness.
Subscribers can choose either 50g or 100g samples, and the coffees remain a mystery until tasters complete the activity book and try to match the samples to the correct variety and roaster.
“The goal is to explore what makes each coffee unique, without any bias, while also diving into important and interesting topics in the coffee industry,” Green says. “We bring in experts from across the supply chain to help you stay connected to what’s happening in the coffee world today, and include fun challenges to boost your sensory skills.”
What’s More: Green hopes that Cherry Love’s November subscription box can help advance the conversation around specialty canephora, and introduce more people to what has often been an unfairly maligned coffee species.
“I’m really excited about where specialty canephora is going,” she says. “Canephora’s resilience to heat and resistance to disease and insects makes it crucial for the future of coffee, but what’s exciting is that people are starting to appreciate it for its own qualities. I’m excited to be part of the movement and share that with everyone through this box.”
