Coffee: Extraction

Arabica highlands versus Robusta lowlands

Coffee grows on shrubs in the tropics. Arabica prefers cool highlands and is prized for flavour; Robusta tolerates heat and lowlands and goes mostly into blends and instant coffee. New plants take a few years to bear, and frost or drought can damage trees for more than one season. Cherries are picked by hand on hillsides or by machine on flat Brazilian farms. They are washed and fermented, or dried whole, then hulled to green beans. Tilton & Guzmán note that the best coffee land is scarce, while poorer land is plentiful.

Coffee is a tree crop grown in the tropics in two main species. Arabica needs altitude and cooler conditions; robusta grows lower, hotter and yields more. Supply cannot respond fast: a new tree takes about three years to bear, so frosts or droughts in Brazil or Vietnam cause multi-year price spikes. The main split is between mechanised large farms in Brazil, intensive irrigated robusta in Vietnam, and smallholder hand-picked coffee across Colombia, Central America, East Africa and India. Primary processing at origin (natural or washed) shapes quality; roasting and soluble manufacture happen mostly in consuming countries, though India, Brazil and Vietnam also export instant coffee.

Methods compared

How each method works

Arabica on flat land in Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo is machine-harvested and dried whole on patios or dryers. Conilon robusta is grown in Espirito Santo and Rondonia. Output follows a biennial on-off cycle.

Lowest-cost arabica at scale, but frost and drought risk sets world prices.

Robusta grown on small, densely planted and irrigated farms in the Central Highlands, with heavy fertiliser use and dry processing. Vietnam is the main robusta exporter and supplier to instant coffee plants.

High yields and low cost, but groundwater stress and competition from durian and other crops.

Cherries are hand-picked several times a season on small, steep farms, pulped, fermented and washed at farm or at central washing stations, then dried. Cooperatives and exporters aggregate small lots; quality premiums are paid over ICE.

High quality and premium prices, but high labour cost and many farmers with low incomes.

Coffee grows under a two-tier shade canopy, often with pepper, cardamom and areca as intercrops, mainly in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Robusta is over 70% of output. Planters sell parchment or cherry to curing works; about 70% of the crop is exported.

Shade coffee is valued for quality and biodiversity, but yields are below Vietnam and Brazil and estimates are disputed (USDA put 2025-26 at 360,000-384,000 t).

Roasters blend green coffees and roast them in drum or fluid-bed roasters. Soluble plants brew roasted coffee under pressure, concentrate the extract and spray-dry or freeze-dry it, which favours robusta.

Value is added mostly in consuming countries; India and Vietnam are building export-oriented soluble capacity.

Who does it: global

Who does it: India

India grew about 3.6% of world coffee and exports about 70% of it; exports reached a record 407,000 t worth $2.13 billion in FY2025-26 (Coffee Board data via Commodity Board, April 2026). Italy takes about 18% and the EU about 60% of exports. Instant coffee is about one-third of export earnings, and India also imports about 80,000 t of green robusta a year for processing and re-export.