Forgotten Plant Could Give Us Climate-Proof Coffee
A wild coffee species from West Africa can withstand higher temperatures and rivals the taste of the well-known arabica
The magic bean
If Jack ever truly had magic beans, they’d probably have been coffee beans.
Coffee, brewed from roasted and often ground coffee beans, has become a global staple to get us through the morning and kickstart our day.
While there are older apocryphal accounts, the first solid evidence of coffee drinking comes from Yemenite Sufi shrines in the fifteenth century. They got the beans via a trade route that ran through Somalia to the Ethiopian highlands.
The dark brew spread quickly and is now cultivated by 70 countries. In 2019, coffee export was good for a solid $30 billion, with the biggest chunks going to Brazil, Colombia, and (I did not see this one coming) Switzerland. The biggest consumers per capita are Finland, Norway, and Iceland. What better feeling than curling your hands around a steaming cup of coffee in those cold climes?
The majority of our coffee comes from two species: Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta. There are many other wild species of coffee, but these tend to be a lot less tasty and they are not…
