Food - Drink
What Makes Excelsa Coffee Beans Special
By NIKITA EPHANOV
There are nearly 50 species of coffee beans that grow around the world, but there are three that are most favored and cultivated by humans: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. Coffee lovers are always looking to dry different beans within these three categories, and one very special kind is Excelsa, a subvariety of the already-rare Liberica.
Excelsa beans have a sweet, acidic fruitiness balanced by a dark-roasted undertone. This coffee bean also contains less caffeine than many other types, but what really makes this variety unique is that Excelsa trees are resistant to coffee rust, leaf borers, and other infections, though the large trees still take work to maintain.
Excelsa beans are rarely sold on their own, but perform well in blends, with surface notes of fruit, wood, and popcorn and chocolate inflections in darker roasts, adding intense body and complexity to other beans. The beans' aroma is rather pungent and earthy on its own, making it a bit divisive, but all the more unique.