One of the coffee industry’s most widely held beliefs — that robusta withstands climate change better than arabica — is being questioned by a study published in the journal Sustainable Development. Aaron Davis, senior research leader for crops and global change at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, describes that reputation as an “internet myth” that took hold roughly a decade ago.
The authors argue that earlier assessments should be treated as provisional at best, because they carried methodological errors — among them counting irrigated farms as optimal growing areas, which overstates how well the plant copes on its own.
The nuance matters: robusta genuinely is more heat-tolerant than arabica, but it handles drought poorly. Growing reliance on irrigation can become an added risk in regions where water is already scarce. At a moment when global demand for robusta is rising, the reassessment has direct consequences for farmers, traders and shelf prices.
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Source: Perfect Daily Grind