Arabica Coffee

There are two species of coffee: Arabica and Robusta. Although both grow coffee cherries, the difference between the two is quite striking.

The Arabica genus of coffee bean is a superior coffee bean when compared to the Robusta coffee bean, and it is the type of coffee that Allann Bros Coffee uses exclusively. The Arabica coffee bean is grown at higher elevations and the coffee beans take longer to develop. The coffee bean is harder, denser and lower in caffeine than Robusta coffee beans. When drinking a cup of coffee made with Arabica coffee beans, you will notice a sharper, brighter, and more complex flavor profile than a cup of coffee made with Robusta coffee beans.

Arabica coffee beans have many different "origins" or "varietals" that are each named for their growing region, such as Colombian or Ethiopian. Like growing and cultivating grapes for world-class wines, the quality of different Arabica varietals from harvest to harvest is dependent upon region, climate, elevation and seasonal weather patterns.

The growing, selecting, and roasting Arabica coffee beans is both an art and a very serious business. The classification of "imperfections" alone is quite complex, along with the detail given to the classification of the usable beans from each region.

Allann Bros Coffee imports only prime, high altitude grown Arabica varietals from the most fertile and renowned coffee growing regions on earth. The company's founder and president, Allan Stuart, has visited all of these coffee-growing regions and has developed long term relationships with the coffee growers. Allan pre-selects all of Allann Bros Coffee's varietals by hand, evaluating them for their size, shape, balance and uniformity.

We only buy beans from each coffee-growing region that are classified as "European Prep" (known as "EP") or better. Green Arabica varietals classified as EP means that there is only a maximum of 8 imperfections per 300 grams of green coffee beans. EP also denotes green coffee beans that were initially picked and sorted by hand, then washed and sun-dried.