arabica nights
Here’s where the magic happens
Seventy percent of the world’s coffee production centres around the arabica, and we’ve been enjoying this bean’s rich aroma and taste for nigh on 3,000 years. Here’s a little low-down on an ingredient who’s history is as rich as its roast.
Coffee is everywhere, from every kitchen to street corner, it has a fair shout as the world’s most popular drink. Our obsession with it is certainly a long one, so let’s cast our mind
back to around 1,000 BC and the Kingdom of Kefa, now found in the sub-Saharan region
of Ethiopia.
When the sweet and sour taste of this bean was first discovered, by the area’s Oromo tribe, it would be crushed and mixed with animal fats so the tribes people could get their caffeine hit (ewww!) — but it was the scholars of Arabia, by their own records, who were first to roast the bean to unlock its flavour. This practice seemed to be fairly localised to these seats of learning until the late 1500s, when the invading Ottomans discovered its delights — and so its fame and use started to spread through Egypt and finally into Europe.
A delicate flower
Despite huge popularity, Arabica is grown in a fairly narrow strip of latitude across the equator — so it’s no surprise for you to find the biggest producers are across Central and South America, and also Africa and Asia, often mountainous and very, very wet.
This is because Arabica likes to be high above sea level and needs plenty of rain to maintain a healthy growth rate. Arabica is a pricey commodity because it is both vulnerable and temperamental, it’s harder to source robust plants, plus it doesn’t like pests, so truly organic varieties, such as the ones OHCO are always on the hunt for, are harder to source. Add to that low soil PH, fairly mild all year temperatures, and you have a real diva on your hands.
“It’s the main flavour carrier for what we consider to be a truly great cup of coffee”
Rich Rewards
Despite being a pain in the proverbial, we as a world still love the Arabica the most of all the coffee varieties because it makes for a hugely rich, aromatic experience. Sweet and sour at once, it is way smoother than its sister bean the Robusta, which as it packs almost twice the caffeine punch, and so has a more bitter base to its flavour.
“Arabica is certainly the queen bean for coffee” says OHCO owner Paul. “It’s the main flavour carrier for what we consider to be a truly great cup of coffee. It’s hugely complex, and really it IS coffee, that’s why we don’t ‘cheat’, by adding a little Robusta in there for some ‘umphh’ even in our espresso it’s really easy to overpower that delicacy and over do it, losing all that amazing taste and aroma.
“But when you get it right”, he concludes. “That really wonderful aroma and richness? That’s Arabica — and that’s why we love it so much. Several billion coffee drinkers can’t be wrong.”
We hope you’ll enjoy our evolving series of articles about the great mysteries we try and unravel in our pursuit of coffee perfection — so don’t forget to sign up for our Oh No it’s OHCO newsletter, and don’t forget put your new-found knowledge to the test in our expanding range of hand-roasted blends.
Arabica lead the global charge of coffee from small beginnings in ancient Africa to conquering the world. We think it’s fair to say it’s here to stay.
