5 ms·

Saving Arabica coffee

57 points by jdnier 11y ago

readme 11y ago
It's just Ethiopian wild arabica. Desertification is a fact. It is hard to stop when you live on the edge of a massive fireball, isn't it?
- Symbiote 11y ago
  "Just" the wild relative of a very important crop, which is susceptible to disease. The genetic diversity in the wild plants is important for breeding varieties resistantr to rust blight fungus, or any future disease that appears.
  - fennecfoxen 11y ago
    Well, there is an alternative. Not necessarily quite as good of an alternative, but it worked for ruby-red grapefruit. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350
  - readme 11y ago
    My point is that it was a misleading title. It should not have blanketed "arabica" when it's only one specific kind of arabica, in a specific region.
    - Symbiote 11y ago
      Coffea arabica means the plant growing in Ethiopia, that's the definition ("circumscription") of the species.
deltaprotocol 11y ago
Noooooooooooo!
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
kozukumi 11y ago
Reminds me of the alternate universe in Fringe where there is no coffee :(
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- enraged_camel 11y ago
  >>Actually, coffee is under attack in many areas of the world. "Rust", a fungal blight that has been around for decades is picking up the pace in our warming world. Umm, that's exactly what the article says? "Lack of diversity in crops can have disastrous consequences - it makes them more susceptible to disease. And coffee has a foe - coffee leaf rust. The fungus wiped out Sri Lanka's coffee plantations entirely in the late 1800s, and there was a bad outbreak in 2013 in Central America. The coffee grown there had no resistance to the disease - the crop relied on the protection of low temperatures at higher altitudes."
  - hownottowrite 11y ago
    The BBC article primarily focuses on the situation in Ethiopia. I did have a link to a more detailed article covering the entire global "rust" situation, but I seemed to have deleted while editing the comment. Rather than provide the relevant information I've decided to delete my original comment entirely.
lucaspiller 11y ago
Panic over. Apparently Arabica coffee can be grown in artificial environments: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7170479.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7170479.stm
- hyperbovine 11y ago
  At the scale needed to meet world demand? Give me a break.
  - protomyth 11y ago
    "The total area covered by Arabica and other types of coffee is about 400,000 hectares." [1] "Almería in southern Spain has developed the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, covering 26,000 hectares" [2] So, a small town in southern Spain is within 5%. It would be costly and prices would go up, but its not impossible. At some point we need to start looking at this type of stuff for certain luxury crops (e.g. cocoa beans). Jordan and Norway look like they are doing some stuff using seawater, so I would imagine others are thinking about this kind of stuff. 1) http://equalexchange.coop/history-of-coffee-in-ethiopia http://equalexchange.coop/history-of-coffee-in-ethiopia I assume their facts are correct for this part even though it is a political site. 2) http://geographyfieldwork.com/AlmeriaClimateChange.htm http://geographyfieldwork.com/AlmeriaClimateChange.htm
  - iolothebard 11y ago
    Ever seen what we do for oil & gas because of demand? No break needed. People will pay for it or they won't.
madaxe_again 11y ago
What about poor old liberica? Everybody forgets about it. Good coffee, more robust than arabica. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_liberica http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_liberica
- goodcanadian 11y ago
  It is mentioned in the article. Apparently, most people don't like the flavour.
- ppereira 11y ago
  How does liberica taste in comparison to arabica and robusta? Arabica is much sweeter and less acidic than robusta, which is why this more fragile plant is so popular.
arh68 11y ago
I can live with the tasty bananas getting wiped out, but no arabica? Does anyone know what % of these plantations in Ethiopia use grafted trees? I know grafting is very common in wine (vinifera on labrusca/..) but I haven't learned much about coffee. I did find a source stating it was done in certain parts of Latin America, esp. Guatemala: [1] Arabian coffee (Coffea arabica) produces a higher grade of coffee than Canefera coffee (Coffea robusta, the kind used to make instant coffee), but the former is nematode- susceptible while the latter is resistant. Scions from seedlings of C. arabica are grafted onto seedling understocks of C. robusta for coffee plantations in Guatemala and other parts of Latin America. A very short PDF I found discussed more than one study, the most recent being in 2010: [2] In India, D’Souza et al (2010) carried out many graft combinations between and within different Arabica and Robusta varieties. They found enhanced photosynthetic rates with Arabica-Arabica scion-rootstock grafts over ungrafted plants. Arabicas grafted onto Robusta rootstocks showed lower net photosynthesis, but also decreased transpiration rates, suggesting that there is a productivity penalty for increased drought protection as found by other authors. Finally a found a large PDF [3] mentioning the prevalence again in Guatemala at high elevation (>1000m) and nematode presence. The paper then mentions grafting on a low-land (400~1000m) Arabusta hybrid might produce good yields in Africa. So now I'm back to my question: is grafting prevalent in countries other than Guatemala? At which elevations, and on what root stock? I'd love to know more about this situation. [1] http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/reasons/ReasonsGBFrm.html http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/reasons/ReasonsGBFrm.ht... [2] http://toolbox.coffeeandclimate.org/userdata/tool/media/grafting-arabica-scion-onto-robusta-rootstock-improves-drought-resistance.pdf http://toolbox.coffeeandclimate.org/userdata/tool/media/graf... [3] http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/36/2/269.full.pdf http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/36/2/269.full.pd...
kaybe 11y ago
Cocoa is in a similar state - the production in Bahia (Brasil) has been reduced massively with the introduction of the Witches´ Broom, a fungus. http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/pest-a-diseases.html http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/pest-a-diseases.html http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91479835 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9147983...
akssri 11y ago
> but for many, its taste cannot compare to the smooth and complex flavours of Arabica. The author obviously hasn't had an awesome cup of Filter Kaapi :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_filter_coffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_filter_coffee
- morbius 11y ago
  This seems like a non-sequitur, since the Indian filter coffee you linked to commonly incorporates both Arabica and Robusta beans. > "The most commonly used coffee beans are arabica and robusta."

57 points by jdnier 11y ago

It's just Ethiopian wild arabica. Desertification is a fact. It is hard to stop when you live on the edge of a massive fireball, isn't it?

Symbiote 11y ago
"Just" the wild relative of a very important crop, which is susceptible to disease. The genetic diversity in the wild plants is important for breeding varieties resistantr to rust blight fungus, or any future disease that appears.
- fennecfoxen 11y ago
  Well, there is an alternative. Not necessarily quite as good of an alternative, but it worked for ruby-red grapefruit. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350
- readme 11y ago
  My point is that it was a misleading title. It should not have blanketed "arabica" when it's only one specific kind of arabica, in a specific region.
  - Symbiote 11y ago
    Coffea arabica means the plant growing in Ethiopia, that's the definition ("circumscription") of the species.

deltaprotocol 11y ago

Noooooooooooo!

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

kozukumi 11y ago

Reminds me of the alternate universe in Fringe where there is no coffee :(

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

enraged_camel 11y ago
>>Actually, coffee is under attack in many areas of the world. "Rust", a fungal blight that has been around for decades is picking up the pace in our warming world. Umm, that's exactly what the article says? "Lack of diversity in crops can have disastrous consequences - it makes them more susceptible to disease. And coffee has a foe - coffee leaf rust. The fungus wiped out Sri Lanka's coffee plantations entirely in the late 1800s, and there was a bad outbreak in 2013 in Central America. The coffee grown there had no resistance to the disease - the crop relied on the protection of low temperatures at higher altitudes."
- hownottowrite 11y ago
  The BBC article primarily focuses on the situation in Ethiopia. I did have a link to a more detailed article covering the entire global "rust" situation, but I seemed to have deleted while editing the comment. Rather than provide the relevant information I've decided to delete my original comment entirely.

lucaspiller 11y ago

Panic over. Apparently Arabica coffee can be grown in artificial environments: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7170479.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7170479.stm

hyperbovine 11y ago
At the scale needed to meet world demand? Give me a break.
- protomyth 11y ago
  "The total area covered by Arabica and other types of coffee is about 400,000 hectares." [1] "Almería in southern Spain has developed the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, covering 26,000 hectares" [2] So, a small town in southern Spain is within 5%. It would be costly and prices would go up, but its not impossible. At some point we need to start looking at this type of stuff for certain luxury crops (e.g. cocoa beans). Jordan and Norway look like they are doing some stuff using seawater, so I would imagine others are thinking about this kind of stuff. 1) http://equalexchange.coop/history-of-coffee-in-ethiopia http://equalexchange.coop/history-of-coffee-in-ethiopia I assume their facts are correct for this part even though it is a political site. 2) http://geographyfieldwork.com/AlmeriaClimateChange.htm http://geographyfieldwork.com/AlmeriaClimateChange.htm
- iolothebard 11y ago
  Ever seen what we do for oil & gas because of demand? No break needed. People will pay for it or they won't.

madaxe_again 11y ago

What about poor old liberica? Everybody forgets about it. Good coffee, more robust than arabica. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_liberica http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_liberica

goodcanadian 11y ago
It is mentioned in the article. Apparently, most people don't like the flavour.
ppereira 11y ago
How does liberica taste in comparison to arabica and robusta? Arabica is much sweeter and less acidic than robusta, which is why this more fragile plant is so popular.

arh68 11y ago

I can live with the tasty bananas getting wiped out, but no arabica? Does anyone know what % of these plantations in Ethiopia use grafted trees? I know grafting is very common in wine (vinifera on labrusca/..) but I haven't learned much about coffee. I did find a source stating it was done in certain parts of Latin America, esp. Guatemala: [1] Arabian coffee (Coffea arabica) produces a higher grade of coffee than Canefera coffee (Coffea robusta, the kind used to make instant coffee), but the former is nematode- susceptible while the latter is resistant. Scions from seedlings of C. arabica are grafted onto seedling understocks of C. robusta for coffee plantations in Guatemala and other parts of Latin America. A very short PDF I found discussed more than one study, the most recent being in 2010: [2] In India, D’Souza et al (2010) carried out many graft combinations between and within different Arabica and Robusta varieties. They found enhanced photosynthetic rates with Arabica-Arabica scion-rootstock grafts over ungrafted plants. Arabicas grafted onto Robusta rootstocks showed lower net photosynthesis, but also decreased transpiration rates, suggesting that there is a productivity penalty for increased drought protection as found by other authors. Finally a found a large PDF [3] mentioning the prevalence again in Guatemala at high elevation (>1000m) and nematode presence. The paper then mentions grafting on a low-land (400~1000m) Arabusta hybrid might produce good yields in Africa. So now I'm back to my question: is grafting prevalent in countries other than Guatemala? At which elevations, and on what root stock? I'd love to know more about this situation. [1] http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/reasons/ReasonsGBFrm.html http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/reasons/ReasonsGBFrm.ht... [2] http://toolbox.coffeeandclimate.org/userdata/tool/media/grafting-arabica-scion-onto-robusta-rootstock-improves-drought-resistance.pdf http://toolbox.coffeeandclimate.org/userdata/tool/media/graf... [3] http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/36/2/269.full.pdf http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/36/2/269.full.pd...

kaybe 11y ago

Cocoa is in a similar state - the production in Bahia (Brasil) has been reduced massively with the introduction of the Witches´ Broom, a fungus. http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/pest-a-diseases.html http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/pest-a-diseases.html http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91479835 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9147983...

akssri 11y ago

> but for many, its taste cannot compare to the smooth and complex flavours of Arabica. The author obviously hasn't had an awesome cup of Filter Kaapi :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_filter_coffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_filter_coffee

morbius 11y ago
This seems like a non-sequitur, since the Indian filter coffee you linked to commonly incorporates both Arabica and Robusta beans. > "The most commonly used coffee beans are arabica and robusta."