Question: “When did McDonald’s stop using Columbian coffee and switch to Arabic beans?” - anonymous

Arabica coffee is often confused with Arabia.  If you go back far enough, the original tree of this species did originate in Yemen but has since found ideal growing conditions across the “coffee belt” that is the Equator.  There are predominantly two species of coffee tree, Arabica and Robusta.  When a company boasts of serving 100% Arabica coffee, they aren’t making reference to coffee from the Arabic world, but to this species of coffee. 

While Arabica coffee does contain less caffeine, it is recognized as superior coffee.  As a rule of thumb, when you find a roaster you trust, they don’t generally need to tell you that their coffee is 100% Arabica, it just is.  When a company boasts of serving 100% Arabica, it more than likely is but I would question the place where you’re buying it, that this claim even needs to be made.  When you don’t know enough about where you’re buying your coffee and they don’t make this claim, you may very well be getting Robusta coffee.

• Read: Coffees of Ecuador – When friends returned recently from Ecuador with coffee they had bought from a local vendor, I noticed that the packaging didn’t specify the species of coffee.  I made the assumption in that case that it must be Robusta, until I researched where the coffee was grown and learned that coffee grown in that part of Ecuador is indeed Arabica.

Arabica’s red-headed stepbrother is the species known as Robusta, not generally sought after in terms of coffee quality.  It contains more caffeine.  When I first heard this, I felt like that would make it superior, but don’t be fooled.  If coffee helps you stay alert and concentrate, you’re getting enough caffeine from Arabica coffee.  When you buy a cup of coffee at 7-Eleven and they refer to “Truckers’ Blend” or some other “super-caffeine” coffee, it is likely Robusta. 

Robusta is cheaper to produce.  For that reason, it is the coffee generally used in instant coffees and anywhere else where “filler” is used.  It’s a larger discussion to get into, but when Vietnam received international aid to prop up its economy, it got into coffee.  Its growing conditions are ideal, but it grows primarily Robusta coffee and so much of it, that it is now the #2 producer in the world after Brazil.  One of the unfortunate consequences has been a flooding of the global coffee supply with this cheap grade of coffee, driving down prices for everybody, even those growing the finer coffees that we drink.

If you’ve found a local roaster you trust, they are probably selling you Arabica coffee (not to be confused by Arabia, except in origin).  If you’re not sure, ask.  You will find Arabica to be a higher-quality, better-tasting coffee.

A year ago, I interviewed Bill Barrett of Planet Bean Coffee in Guelph, Ontario.  What started as a profile of the company’s history and mission turned into several posts, and I still think back to that interview today.

Read: Profile Planet Bean Coffee

That day, I decided to ask Bill an unconventional question.  Instead of my usual questions regarding the proper care that we should expect from a good roaster, I asked him what a bad roaster does.  Here’s what three things he had to say…

1) According to Bill, a bad roaster assumes the same characteristics in a particular coffee from lot to lot.  That roaster does not properly profile beans as unique before roasting, so that he can make the most of its unique properties.  Roasting becomes automatic rather than precise, and the roaster loses sight of the uniqueness of lots, treating beans the same.  In my first meeting at Fire Roasted Coffee a year earlier in London Ontario, owner Dave Cook made the same remark.  Ask your local roaster how they profile the beans that arrive in their roasteries.  Get a sense of whether beans are roasted to standard by lot, or mass-roasted to pre-determined settings.

Read: Profile Fire Roasted Coffee

2) Now, remember that “bad” was my choice of words, not Bill’s.  He went on to say that such a roaster is too involved in expanding rather than staying local.  Bill is a big believer in the role of the roaster in the local economy, and the ability of that economy to sustain itself locally.  The further it travels, the more freshness the coffee loses.  Expanding on that, the local roaster can have fun with blends that suit tastes in his market.  Find a local roaster that lives and breathes their community, rather than something mass-produced for everybody in the country.  I found the model of this when I interviewed Jason Griest of Old Soul in Sacramento, California.

Read: Profile Old Soul Roastery

3) Finally, a bad roaster isn’t raising awareness in his community of the corelation between consumer behavior and the possible benefits to farmers, their families, their society, and its economic infrastructure.  If you like the coffee that these communities provide for you, do your small part to sustain it and even help it thrive.  It costs little extra, and makes a big difference.  Good roasters raise awareness at the local level, “change the world in little ways”. 

Bill Barrett: “It’s key to have peers that share your values.”

A few years back, I received an e-mail from a guest to the site, asking me what I thought of roasting coffee beans at home and whether it was worth the trouble.  I was embarrassed.  I’d never heard of it at the time. 

What followed was a long process of educating myself on home roasting, the work and the reward.  That ongoing adventure brought me to Portland’s Mr. Green Beans.

Click here to Ask Marc anything about coffee.

Mr. Green Beans was opened two years ago by Trevin and Ginny Miller in the Mississippi District of Portland, Oregon.  To the best of my knowledge, it is the only company in the area, catering to the gradually growing awareness of buying green unroasted coffee beans and roasting them at home.

The Millers are do-it-yourselfers by nature, which combined with a love for the social qualities of coffee, translates into a business that helps build awareness and teach people the value in doing something new for themselves.  That something is the fun of taking a natural step back in the coffee process, and become acquainted with the roasting process.

Trevin explained to me that the Portland area is a mix of people who are familiar with -and equipped for- home roasting, and looking for somebody to help support that, and those to whom it’s new.  Mr. Green Beans takes the time to educate both sides of it.  This month, I will be attending one of their regular Introduction to Roasting classes.  Following that, an advanced class. 

And so, to answer the question I was asked years ago…if you love coffee, experiment with home roasting.  Coffee really starts to go stale after it’s been roasted, so home roasting allows you to keep unroasted green beans on-hand that won’t go stale in a week or two, as roasted coffee does. 

You also get the chance to truly prepare your own coffee to taste.  I’ve come to enjoy a combination of having coffee on-hand from great local roasters that I’ve come to rely on, and green beans to roast for myself on occasion.

Click to visit Mr. Green Beans website.

Trevin Miller helps a customer that is buying green beans for the first time, and will be roasting them himself at home in a frying pan.