Brazil grows more coffee than any other country, and this year it grew more than ever. In its September survey, Brazil's crop agency, Conab, put the 2026 harvest at a record 67.6 million 60-kilo bags, up 19.6% on 2025. Arabica did the heavy lifting, up 34.8% to 48.2 million bags, about 70% of the total. Conilon, Brazil's name for robusta, fell 6.6% to 19.4 million … [Read more...] about Brazil’s Coffee Crop in 2026: A Record 67.6 Million Bags From an On-Year Harvest
Arabica
Arabica vs Robusta: Why Italian Espresso Blends Still Use the Cheaper, Stronger Bean
Nearly all the coffee in the world comes from two species: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, better known as robusta. Specialty coffee has spent decades teaching people that arabica is the good one. The truth is messier, and Italian espresso bars have known it all along. Two Very Different Plants Arabica is a natural cross between robusta and another species, … [Read more...] about Arabica vs Robusta: Why Italian Espresso Blends Still Use the Cheaper, Stronger Bean
Geisha Coffee: From an Ethiopian Forest to a $30,204-a-Kilo Auction Record
In August 2025, 20 kilos of green coffee from a farm in Panama sold for $604,080. That's $30,204 a kilo, about $13,700 a pound, and a world record for coffee at auction. The coffee was a Geisha, a variety that was a curiosity until 2004. From Gesha to Panama The variety takes its name from the Gori Gesha forest in southwestern Ethiopia, the same region where arabica grows wild, … [Read more...] about Geisha Coffee: From an Ethiopian Forest to a $30,204-a-Kilo Auction Record
Espresso Beans for Milk Drinks: Why Italian Blends With Robusta Taste Better in a Cortado
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Not every good coffee makes a good cortado. A bright, fruity light roast that tastes wonderful as a straight shot can disappear in milk, or turn sour. Milk fat and sugar mute acidity and fruit. What comes through is chocolate, caramel, nuts and body. That's why Italian bars have used the same kind of blend for decades, … [Read more...] about Espresso Beans for Milk Drinks: Why Italian Blends With Robusta Taste Better in a Cortado
Bourbon and Typica: The Two Arabica Lines Behind Most Latin American Coffee
Arabica coffee comes from the forests of southwestern Ethiopia, but most of the arabica planted across Latin America traces back to two old lines, Typica and Bourbon. Both reached the Americas from Yemen, by way of European colonies, and many of the varieties on Latin American farms today descend from them. Typica: Yemen, Java, Amsterdam, the Caribbean Typica's route reads like … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Typica: The Two Arabica Lines Behind Most Latin American Coffee
Washed, Natural or Honey Coffee: How Processing Sets Acidity and Body Before the Roaster Starts
A coffee bean is the seed of a cherry. Before it can be roasted, the fruit has to come off and the seed has to dry, down to about 11% moisture. How a farm does that is called processing, and it changes the cup as much as the variety or the roast does. It's why two coffees from the same farm can taste like different drinks. Washed In the washed process, the skin and most of the … [Read more...] about Washed, Natural or Honey Coffee: How Processing Sets Acidity and Body Before the Roaster Starts
Kenya’s SL28 and SL34: How Two 1930s Selections Still Define Kenyan Coffee
Kenyan coffee has a reputation for bright, juicy acidity, and a big part of that comes from two varieties picked out in the 1930s at Scott Agricultural Laboratories, a research station in Kenya. SL28 and SL34 (the SL stands for Scott Labs) are still widely grown in Kenya nearly a century later. SL28: The Drought Survivor In 1931 A. D. Trench, a senior coffee officer, toured … [Read more...] about Kenya’s SL28 and SL34: How Two 1930s Selections Still Define Kenyan Coffee
How the Coffee C Price Works: Why Farmers From Colombia to Kenya Are Paid Off a New York Futures Price
When a farmer in Colombia sells a truckload of coffee, or a roaster in Hamburg buys a container, the price almost always starts from the same number: the arabica futures price in New York, known as the "C" price. Robusta has its own benchmark in London. Here's how the two work, and why a trading screen in New York matters to a café in Lisbon. The Two Contracts Arabica … [Read more...] about How the Coffee C Price Works: Why Farmers From Colombia to Kenya Are Paid Off a New York Futures Price
Coffee Prices in September 2026: Arabica at $2.89 as a Record Brazil Crop Meets Thin Warehouse Stocks
Arabica coffee futures settled at 288.75 cents a pound on Monday, September 28, 2026, up 3.6% on the day and at their highest in about two weeks. The jump came as investment funds bought back bets against coffee. Robusta futures in London ended the same day at $3,412 a tonne. Both are far below their 2025 records, but the market is caught between a huge Brazilian harvest and … [Read more...] about Coffee Prices in September 2026: Arabica at $2.89 as a Record Brazil Crop Meets Thin Warehouse Stocks
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: Green Beans Roasted at the Table and Three Rounds of Buna
In Ethiopia, coffee isn't something you grab on the way out. It's an event. The coffee ceremony, jebena buna, starts with raw green beans and ends, an hour or more later, with a third cup nobody is meant to skip. It happens in homes every day, and it's how guests are welcomed. There's a saying for how central it is: buna dabo naw, "coffee is our bread." Buna is Amharic for … [Read more...] about Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: Green Beans Roasted at the Table and Three Rounds of Buna