Plant · P-935

Robusta Coffee

Coffea canephora

Robusta Coffee is an evergreen shrub or small tree grown for its seeds - roasted and brewed into coffee with roughly twice the caffeine of Arabica and a more bitter less acidic flavor used heavily in instant coffee and cheap blends. Native to lowland rainforest and forest margins of tropical West and Central Africa; grows from open sun to shade under an umbrella-shaped canopy and reaches up to 12 m tall though cultivated plantings are usually kept much smaller. Needs warm frost-free conditions - thrives between 20-30 C and is killed outright at 5 C or below - with 1700-3000 mm of annual rainfall and tolerance for a short spell of mild drought. Well-drained fertile soil in the pH 5-6.3 range suits it best though it tolerates a much wider 4-8 range and even shallow soils or brief waterlogging. Propagated from seed sown within two months of harvest and set out as a seedling at six to twelve months old; air layering budding and single-leaf-bud cuttings serve as alternatives. Begins bearing at three to four years and reaches peak yield around age fourteen; economic lifespan runs twenty to eighty years and plants can live to a century.