arabica coffee (which makes up almost all Speciality grade coffee), it suffers from a wider variety of pests. As a natural deterrent, robusta developed to have a higher concentration of caffeine as a way to put off insects and animals from eating too much of its fruit. So we have a hefty kick of caffeine in robusta, but unfortunately, robusta tends to have very strong woody and slightly astringent flavours - not a lot of excitement - which has left robusta never really being taken very seriously.
So we brought some of this robusta into the blend and have roasted in a way that we get all the things we want from the bean, but none of its negative qualities. It’s married with a Kenyan coffee, which brings a stone fruit juiciness and a really rounded sweetness. While we wanted a coffee that had that extra kick, we didn;t want to compromise on how that eventual cup tasted. The result is a super delicious cup of black stuff that kinda slaps you round the face in the morning and has you ready to take on the day. So to bring about that extra whack of caffeine in this blend we brought some robusta in. Now this variety of coffee is unfairly known for its rougher, woody, usually slightly carbonated flavours.