In India, Excelsa has traditionally served as a boundary crop for farms. These trees can grow up to 40 feet tall, earning them the nickname “tree coffee.” They provide substantial shade, enhance biodiversity, and possess deep root systems that make them highly drought-tolerant.
The industry’s focus on Arabica has left Excelsa largely unexplored, with its full potential yet to be discovered. Its cup profile differs markedly from Arabica—featuring lower caffeine content, intense stevia-like sweetness, fruity notes, and full body. Like any coffee, Excelsa needs careful processing and selective breeding to achieve optimal results.
This coffee comes from the South India Coffee Company, marking our fourth year of partnership in 2024. Founders Komal and Akshay are pioneering the future of coffee through their cutting-edge breeding program, researching climate-resilient species like Excelsa.
This lot originates from their farm Mooleh Manay, from whom we buy impeccable naturals every year. The cherries were harvested and floated to remove defects. The selected cherries were then placed into a fermentation drum under a carbonic maceration environment for 48 hours, where an in-house microbial culture and wine yeast were introduced. Following fermentation, the coffee was moved to a drying patio and dried slowly over 12 days.
Racemosa stands out for its unique cup profile—containing about half the caffeine of Arabica and offering remarkable sweetness with diverse notes ranging from floral and herbal to berry-like flavours. As one of the rarest coffee species, it shows potential through its exceptional resilience to heat, drought, and pests. The species can withstand South African summers with no rain for over six months at temperatures far exceeding Arabica’s tolerance. This hardiness makes it valuable for developing hybrids that could thrive in more extreme climates —crucial given Arabica’s projected extinction within 60 years.
The seeds pose unique challenges throughout processing, being exceptionally small at just one-third the size of average Arabica beans. Traditional pulping and roasting equipment cannot handle such tiny seeds—they’re so small that roasters need a stethoscope to hear the first crack. This size limitation is a key reason why Racemosa is rarely grown commercially. Charles Denison from Cultivar in South Africa reports that his 8,000 trees yielded only 55kg this year. Each tree produces approximately 50g of dried, milled seeds, compared to Arabica’s typical 1-2kg yield.
Racemosa’s scarcity has historical roots. Until 1970, it flourished across South Africa and Mozambique. However, the Mozambican War of Independence destroyed most Racemosa farms and their documentation. Charles’s project now aims to advance research into this unique species and distribute seedlings globally.
Given his limited lot sizes, Charles focuses on two processing methods: traditional washed and natural processing with 48-hour anaerobic fermentation, which is the lot presented here.
Coffea Eugenioides, along with Canephora, is one of the two parent coffee species whose natural hybridization created the Arabica species which now accounts for around 60% of global production. Despite the popularity of its offspring, eugenioides is extremely rare and is considered by some to be an “abandoned” species. In recent years, Colombia’s Finca Inmaculada has brought this forgotten plant back into the spotlight. Due to its low yields, just 150g per tree, the very limited amount available each season is remarkably expensive and usually reserved for competitions.
Like some other species, Eugenioides naturally has a lower caffeine content, which contributes to its characteristic intensity of sweetness and almost no bitterness. It has a unique flavour profile reminiscent of marshmallow and candy, with floral notes and tropical fruits.
This lot has been hand picked before being sorted and then undergoing an anoxic fermentation before being slowly dried over 15 days in a parabolic drier.
Coffea Canephora currently accounts for approximately 40% of global production, and its importance is growing as climate change devastates Arabica crops. One of the greatest benefits of this species is its ability to thrive under harsh conditions; with some varieties possessing exceptionally high natural resistance to major pests and diseases, including rust. This resilience is why Coffea Canephora is widely referred to as Robusta.
Many different terms are used to describe Robusta in its growing regions, such as Conilon, Nganda, and Koillou/Quillou. These terms are regional and colloquial, and they don’t necessarily correspond to specific genetically distinct varieties or clones.
Robusta can be divided into two broad genetic groups: Guinean and Congolese. The Guinean group is characterized by high caffeine content, low bean weight, drought resistance, and early harvest. The Congolese group typically has higher rust resistance, medium caffeine content, high bean weight, late harvesting, and susceptibility to drought.
Canephora is known for a full-bodied cup profile with nutty and chocolate notes, typically high bitterness and caffeine content, often with herbal or earthy undertones. It has been widely used in creating modern hybrid varieties due to its hardiness and high yields. Its importance as an alternative to Arabica is growing, as many believe careful processing and fermentation techniques can vastly improve its flavour profile, as demonstrated in this lot.
Cherries were selectively harvested and floated to remove defects, then pulped using a waterless pulper. The pulped coffee was transferred to a sealed fermentation cylinder for carbonic maceration. A custom culture derived from bitter orange and yeast were added to initiate fermentation. Following the fermentation phase, the coffee was moved to raised drying beds, where it was regularly raked to ensure uniform drying.
