REPOSITIONING ROBUSTAS

By Carlos H J Brando

As advanced in the Outlook article two months ago – The Rise in Robusta Production and Consumption (https://bit.ly/3ytlZFQ) –, the improvement of the quality of Robusta green coffee is a sure way to retain the markets it gained during the pandemics and to open up new ones. The article added that there are many ways to improve Robusta quality but perhaps the quickest one lies on post-harvest processing.?

The Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) held a Workshop last June on Kaweri Coffee Plantation, in Uganda, to advance the design of its Q Processing 2 Robusta Course. Coffee processing experts, instructors and cuppers from 10 different countries and with coffee experience in 3 or 4 times as many countries met for a week under the leadership of CQI’s Manager of Post-Harvest Processing Program to discuss and improve the course materials. Slides, videos, technical information and orientation for instructors for the modules that will comprise the new CQI Q Processing 2 Robusta Course are now being finalized. ?

The Workshop also included visits to the farm’s coffee processing facilities, processing trials with samples and cupping sessions of Robusta coffees processed using different methods: natural, pulped natural / honey and washed, inoculated or not. Coffees from the trials as well as samples of micro, small and large lots from origins as diverse as Vietnam, Brazil and the host farm in Uganda were cupped and scored from 80 to 89 points, which shows that there is still much to be demystified about the quality of Robusta coffees that are properly processed.

A further CQI-led activity to position Robusta coffees as a quality product was the cupping session held at the Specialty Coffee Association’s World of Coffee in Milan later last June. Over 50 people attended the session that included Latin American, Asian and African samples that again surprised and impressed cuppers for the high quality and scores of the coffees. The cupping was said to have been the starting point for sales of high quality Robusta coffees with substantial price premiums.?

Post-harvest processing is an important way to emphasize key quality features of Robusta coffees. The challenge is to identify the processing systems that best fit the terroir and to use them in a consistent way to enable similar qualities to be produced year after year, with the score variation expected for a product that is climate dependent.?

There is room in the market for high quality and high score Robusta micro and small lots of single origin specialty coffees that are breaking established paradigms. Likewise there is much room for large volumes of differentiated quality Robusta coffees that may occupy additional space in blends that are well known to coffee drinkers, from single-serve capsules and breakfast blends in coffee shops to traditional roast-and-ground and instant coffee brands offered in retail shelves. There is much space available in the market for well-produced and properly processed Robusta coffees with benefits to all in the supply chain, from producers to consumers.?

This Robusta quality revolution that started quietly in India many years ago is gaining momentum and spreading to other Robusta coffee producing countries. First promoted by the pulping/washing of Robusta coffees, quality improvement now includes inoculation and fermentation processes that may also change the quality of natural Robustas. The market is far from saturated for these novel products that are most likely to support the continuation of the historical growth of the participation of Robustas in world coffee production.