Zing: Robusta One-Liners from Some Serious Coffee Tasters

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by Michael Sheridan of CRS Coffeelands Blog

Let’s Talk Robusta 2013, part of Sustainable Harvest’s Let’s Talk Coffee 2013 in El Salvador, was bigger and covered more ground than its 2012 predecessor. Here are 10 of the most memorable quotes from the event:

THE ROBUSTA TABOO

“You can’t just ask any importer for a Robusta.  You have to be discreet.”

-John DiRuocco
Mr. Espresso

“Robusta has been a perfect sensory bogeyman for Arabica.”

-Ken Davids
The Coffee Review

THE ROBUSTA TRAP

“Robusta is cheap and poorly prepared because it is expected to be cheap and poorly prepared.”

“Large specialty coffee companies simply cannot afford to take a risk on offering even the best Robustas.  They would be doomed to by the same 100% Arabica myth they helped create.”

-Ken Davids

ROBUSTA AND THE MARKET

“Our café may sell 6 or 7 filtered coffees a day and 600 to 700 espressos.”

“We have five espresso blends.  Our customers cup them all and choose the one they want.  Four are 100 percent Arabica, but more than half our customers choose the one that is 20 percent Robusta.”

-Craig Dickson
Veneziano Coffee Roasters 

ROBUSTA’S POTENTIAL

“You want to produce a fine Robusta?  Treat it like a fine Arabica.”

-Craig Dickson

“Robusta genetics will help bring Arabica through climate change.”

-Manuel Díaz
CQI

“Someday soon there won’t be enough fine Arabica to meet demand. Better to start experimenting now.”

-Stephen Vick
Blue Bottle

“We don’t know Robusta.”

-Ken Davids

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ABOUT LET’S TALK ROBUSTA

CRS has collaborated with Sustainable Harvest over the past two years to create an annual workshop series on fine Robusta offered during the yearly Let’s Talk Coffee event.  The result, Let’s Talk Robusta, has generated plenty of buzz and lots of enlightenment through its first two years. Sprudge provided coverage of the 2012 event in Colombia, which brought together some of the biggest names in Robusta to introduce the specialty community to “the other coffee” through lectures and a fine Robusta cupping.  The 2013 edition of Let’s Talk Robusta in El Salvador was bigger and better than its predecessor, from with the provocative opening statements of The Coffee Review co-founder and specialty coffee pioneer Kenneth Davids all the way through to the fine Robusta tasting that closed the event.