How well do you know your coffee?

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A good cup of coffee is a bit like a glass of fine wine, a lot goes into the process from bean to cup and different types can make a huge difference when it comes to taste, strength and overall drinking experience. Being a coffee drinker myself, I love learning more about this process and I'm proud to say I've drunk some of the rarest coffee in the world - Saint Helena Coffee from the Island of St Helena which I visited by cargo ship over a decade ago and was able to visit one of the coffee plantations on this small island.

That experience alone opened my eyes to the journey that coffee takes and since then I have been keen to learn more and after my trip to St Helena, I also spent time working as a Barista. So how well do you know your coffee? I thought I would break down some of the basics and I hope you learn something new from this post.

So here is my Guide to Arabica & Robusta Coffee Beans with Halo Coffee. Firstly there are 3 main types of coffee beans, they are Robusta, Liberica and Arabica and each type of bean has a slightly different flavour and qualities to them. As a quick rundown, Liberica is a lower yield type of coffee, Robusta contains more caffeine than the other two and a slightly stronger taste while Arabica has a smoother taste and makes up 80% of coffee production.

I thought I would focus on the Robusta and Arabica and what makes them so special as well as their differences. 

Robusta - due to it's higher caffeine taste it has a more bitter taste but has a higher yield, is easier to grow and is cheaper to produce which is why it's sometimes added to a coffee blend as produces aim to make their products cheaper and with a bigger profit margin. Robusta is found mainly in instant coffee and espresso blends. 

Arabica - tend to have a sweeter and smoother taste but has a lower yield and the Arabica trees take several years to come to maturity, unlike the Robusta which makes the Arabica bean more pricey in comparison. When going for Arabica coffee it's always worth opting for higher quality for the best drinking experience and it's the slightly lower caffeine content, in my opinion, is a good thing as that's what gives it a sweeter taste.

Arabica tends to be a more premium coffee while Robusta is often used for instant coffee although some are blended together with very pleasant results and that's the main thing, personal preference, everyone's personal preference is different so whatever kind of coffee you enjoy that's the main thing. For some, they prefer to opt for an espresso each morning and Halo Coffee does a fantastic range of compostable and biodegradable coffee pods.