But in the right hands, Liberica can be a revelation. The taste surprised him. It was sweet and smooth, with a hint of jackfruit. He brought the beans back to England and began sharing them with coffee importers. They were impressed, too, and saw the potential for high-yielding, delicious beans that could be grown over a relatively large area. “We’re talking about people doing this for profit, not for passion. If it’s not commercial they won’t be interested,” Davis said, incidentally. I said, sipping a coffee made with a variety of Liberica beans called Excelsa.
In South London, Nigel Motley is one of the few UK-based coffee shop owners to celebrate the virtues of Liberica beans. Liberica coffee is widely grown in the Philippines, where Motley’s mother is from, where it is called Liberica coffee. barracks, which loosely translates as “stud”, has strong associations with masculinity. “This terrifyingly strong coffee is thought to energize you for the day,” says Motley. One reason for the harsh taste is that Liberica beans tend to be oddly shaped with pointy tips that can easily scorch during roasting.
But a delicate, light roast can bring out a different side of the beans, says Motley. “It’s really exciting for shops to use and for customers to try it when it’s processed in different ways, not just as a one-sided coffee,” he says. Beans are ordered and roasted in his 3kg roaster in London. It seems that there are many customers who are surprised to eat Reberica for the first time. Prepared the right way, it can serve a much more delicate cup than its history suggests. “It shows a different side of Liberica beans that older generations aren’t used to,” says Motley.
Davis is particularly excited about the Excelsa variety of Liberica. It has smaller, manageable berries that are easier to process than regular chunky Liberica beans. The less pulp that surrounds its seeds, the easier the fruit is to harvest and process. Liberica plants, including Excelsa, also have good resistance to warming. “We consider Excelsa and Liberica to be cultivable, but not Arabica,” says Davis.
Having more coffee varieties to choose from is not just a good thing, it can be an important way to sustain the lives of those who grow coffee for a living. It accounts for a quarter of Ethiopia’s total exports, and as the climate warms, 39-59% of the current planted area could become unsuitable for coffee cultivation. As other coffee-growing regions heat up, the need for plants that can withstand higher temperatures becomes even more pressing. Dotted. Before the 1950s, most of the exported bananas belonged to the larger, sweeter variety known today as Gros Michel, which was wiped out by a fungal infection. As temperatures rise, more coffee growing areas may become susceptible to leaf rust. Leaf rust is the infectious disease that caused the rise of Liberica over a century ago.
The situation facing coffee trees may not be so dire. Within the two main coffee species, there are hundreds of varieties with their own unique flavors and qualities. And there are other species such as: coffee tree, can be grown in areas that are no longer suitable for Arabica. “We have to be able to produce coffee in a warming and changing climate,” says Davis. And if the history of coffee can teach us anything, it’s that things really change only when the alternative is to not drink coffee at all. I can’t.
