Stenophylla coffee as the coffee future
STENOPHYLLA AS A WILD COFFEE TREE
The world's commercial coffee production is dominated by Arabica and Robusta. As a minor supplement, there is also Coffea Liberica, but this accounts for only 1% of total coffee production.
Arabica has earned its place mainly thanks to its flavour variation, which is mainly applied to selective coffees, where different processing can be used to obtain coffees that taste of red fruit, chocolate or even caramel.
Robusta holds its place mainly thanks to its durability. But there are a total of 124 varieties of coffee in the world, which can be found all over the world, from South America to Africa to tropical areas of Asia. However, most of them are not grown by farmers, but are coffee plants that grow wild and Stenophylla is one of them.
WHAT IS STENOPHYLLA COFFEE
Stenophylla coffee is one of the wild species of coffee tree that grows in West Africa. It was discovered in the early 19th century, but at that time more attention was paid to Arabica and Robusta. Stenophylla, however, has been gaining it back in recent years.
The cherries of this coffee tree are very dark to black when ripe. Its leaves are narrow, hence its Czech name, coffee tree. As far as taste is concerned, it seems to be quite similar to the much-loved Arabica.
THE FORGOTTEN COFFEE TREE
Stenophylla was once quite abundant in West Africa, specifically in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Ivory Coast, but the last mention of it dates back to 1954.
In December 2018, Dr Aaron Davis a botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, along with Jeremy Haggar a botanist at the University of Greenwich, went on a survey directly to Sierra Leone, where they found just a few narrow-leaved coffee tree plants in the wild.
COMPETING WITH ARABICA OR ROBUSTA
As you know, Robusta grows primarily at lower altitudes and is resistant to changes in temperature, lack of rainfall and various pests. However, its taste is not very interesting, so Robusta is mainly processed as a commodity coffee.
However, the flavour-interesting Arabica, which is not a good example of a hardy plant, is susceptible to all kinds of moulds, rusts and other pests. In addition, it needs a certain altitude or good climatic conditions, such as a certain temperature or suitable rainfall, to grow. This is not entirely helped by current climate change and rising global temperatures. Apparently, this should not be a problem for Stenophylla.
In fact, the narrow-leaved coffee tree is capable of fruiting in temperatures 6 °C higher than the Arabic coffee tree and is also much more tolerant of drought.
TASTE POTENTIAL OF STENOPHYLLA
What's more? Not many wild coffees are as great tasting as the Arabica coffee bean. However, this is not the case for coffee made from the fruit of the narrow-leaf coffee tree.
A sample that was imported from Sierra Leone and subsequently prepared even achieved an 80.25 cupping score. The coffee appeared to have a complex flavour profile, full body and natural sweetness. The coffee had hints of peach, honey, jasmine, chocolate, caramel or nuts as well. And even 80% of the evaluators determined that it was Arabica.
WHEN THE BEANS FROM THE NARROW-LEAVED COFFEE TREE MAKE IT INTO OUR CUP
Stenophylla is still on the endangered species list, so a lot of effort will be needed to ensure its future use. However, four institutions involved in a previous study have already teamed up and are planning to plant Stenophylla coffee seedlings in Sierra Leone and also on Reunion Island (FR).
It will be some time before the coffee beans from the Stenophylla coffee tree make it into your cup, but we should still pay attention. If all goes well, Stenophylla coffee beans could be on the market as a rare coffee species.