Describing something as ‘the world’s rarest coffee’ is no small claim – but when it comes to racemosa coffee, it’s just about spot on.
Harvested for just six weeks of the year – as opposed to arabica, which is picked over four to six months – racemosa plants yield just 100g of cherry, (equivalent to around 10g of green coffee beans), making it like gold dust for coffee enthusiasts.
Naturally, this meant we needed to get our hands on some at Green Coffee Collective!
Racemosa coffee is indigenous to a small coastal and sand-forest area on the border of southern Mozambique and northern KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, where it had remained largely unnoticed for decades.
Now, Charles Denison, Cultivar’s certified Q grader, is spearheading a small team dedicated to the early production of this coffee.
In our conversation with him below, we explore his vision for the future and the exciting potential he sees, including the possibility of cross-specific hybridization to ensure the sustainability of coffee production.
Racemosa cherry being processed
What is racemosa coffee?
Racemosa is considered to be one of the world’s rarest coffee varietals. Due to this, its production is currently very limited.
It was first identified in 1788 by João de Loureiro and was then farmed by the Portuguese during the early 1800s in Mozambique. Over time, it has been part of a rich culture of farming and consumption in Mozambique.
Physically, the crop grows tall and thin with heights up to 5 metres. Its bark is a grey-brown colour, with small dark green leaves. The flowers that sprout from the racemosa tree have a pinky-white colour and its fruit takes on a purple colour when it matures.
Since racemosa is only grown in a specific region of South Africa, it is considered to be a vulnerable and protected species, as well as due to habitat destruction in its naturally occurring areas.
Charles, who’s worked in the coffee industry since he finished university, living in countries like Kenya and Uganda before returning to South Africa, says: “There’s around 130 known species of coffee in the world, but we only really drink arabica or robusta. Knowing, therefore, that there was a rare species that hardly anyone had tried made me really keen to find some. That was maybe eight years ago…”
Where is racemosa coffee grown?
Racemosa coffee is indigenous to South Africa and is endemic to the coastal forest belt between northern KwaZulu-Natal, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. In these areas, it can be found growing in wild coastal dune forests, river banks, and rocky outcrops.
It also grows wild in the coastal forests north of Lake St Lucia. The lake is located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and is home to over 2,180 species of flowering plants.
Only a few racemosa plantations currently exist, with specific locations including Hluhluwe, Ballito, and Port Edward.
This species is hindered by the fact that its growing areas are quite remote. Since the trees grow in such remote areas, they tend to remain protected, averting risks of destruction or over-picking.
Currently, there are only around 2ha of planted racemosa crops in Hluhluwe and Ballito. This equates to around 8500 trees, with a further 3000 seedlings ready to be planted.
When asked he went about finding and harvesting racemosa, Charles says: “We searched in the wild, in the areas we knew it existed, but you can only really find it in the two weeks that it’s flowering because otherwise it looks like every other tree in the bush.
“We travelled to all provinces and, in that small window of time, collected what we could from indigenous nurseries as well. We’ve been germinating our harvested seeds ever since.
“After a few years of doing that, we had enough that we could start selling it.”
Nursery with racemosa trees
How is racemosa coffee different to other species?
The bean is typically less than a third of the size of a standard arabica bean. Yields are low, with six racemosa trees equating to around the weight of one single arabica tree.
Racemosa coffee is naturally low in caffeine compared to other varietals. Its caffeine content is around half of that found in arabica and a quarter of that found in robusta.
Charles adds: “It’s no secret the world’s climate is changing, putting increased pressure on coffee production in many parts of the world – so finding climate-resistant options has never been more important.
“Racemosa ticks a lot of those boxes. It’s extremely drought tolerant and heat tolerant. We’re growing in proper Africa Safari land, so when it’s hot it’s hot, and when it’s dry it’s really dry!
“It’s also close to the coast, around 100-200m above sea level, so it’s got characteristics that arabica and robusta don’t… which is why they’re struggling with climate change in their natural bands of growth.”
Flowering Coffee Racemosa trees
What potential do you see for racemosa coffee, with that in mind?
Charles explains: “There’s two strings of thought in the coffee world at the moment, when it comes to climate change… You have people focusing on the genetics of arabica and robusta, putting in millions to find new, more resistant varieties, and then there’s people saying ‘wait, there’s 128 other species that we’ve not even looked at, should we not be looking at those as well?’
“I personally think this problem is too big to just have one solution – we need multiple solutions. I’m very interested in the new species side, and the potential of creating hybrids.
“We’re doing a lot of work with scientists and other species of coffee to look at potential cross-breeding with arabica, so we can capture racemosa’s heat tolerance and drought tolerance. This, of course, is a long-term vision – it’s a labour of love!
“We’re working with Kew Gardens and writing papers on the genetics of it all, with the future potential in mind. To be frank, I think if we don’t take action now, we might be drinking artificial caffeine in the future.”
Indeed, a hybrid of arabica and racemosa has already been cultivated in Brazil - going by the name ‘Aramosa’. It balances some of the slight bitter characteristics found in caffeinated arabica, therefore giving this coffee more of a sweeter, smoother taste. It is currently considered as a ‘pre-cultivar’. This term denotes a crop that has been selected for cultivation and alteration but has not yet been formally deemed an official cultivar.
How sustainable and environmentally-friendly is Racemosa?
Charles says: “One of the best things about Racemosa is it’s indigenous to these parts so you don’t need any chemicals or herbicides. They’re also really drought tolerant, so we don’t need to irrigate the land – and of course water shortages are a huge problem in these parts.
“The coastal sand-forests that Racemosa is found in are extremely rare but critical to biodiversity. Racemosa is also on the IUCN red list of threatened species.”
Will the growth of Racemosa production benefit local communities too?
Charles says: “There’s hundreds of thousands of famers working on coffee in Africa, so it’s a massive responsibility of all producers to make sure there’s a future for them all.
“My long-term vision for the farms we have here is to train more local farmers to grow it on their land.
“Where this coffee is found, it tends to be poorer, more remote areas, where job creation is a problem. Currently we are creating a small number of jobs in remote regions.
“We’d love to continue to grow those jobs in the future, but as we’re still unsure of the commercial viability of this coffee, we’re being very cautious to ensure we can guarantee long-term employment. We don’t want to make promises we can’t keep.
“I do believe, long-term, the potential is really good, and we’re continuing to work on that.”
What challenges have you found with producing and roasting Racemosa?
Charles explains: “We have sourced and germinated nearly 10,000 racemosa seedlings over the past eight years, comprising around 90% of all known racemosa plants. Each plant produces only around 100g of cherry, which is around 10g of green coffee beans.
“Germination is extremely difficult, and time to production is also long. The biggest difficulty we have is in the size of the beans - tiny, around the size of a lentil - making harvesting, processing, and even roasting challenging. These rare beans manage to fall through every possible crack.
“Also, racemosa is harvested for only six weeks (compared to 4-6months for arabica) however this is during out wet rainy season, making drying challenging.
“We don’t know what the long-term commercial viability of it is and at the low volumes it produces, it’s certainly never going to replace arabica, but it’s a very exciting coffee in terms of its flavour.
So what flavours are you finding when roasting it?
Charles says: “It’s opening up a whole new world of flavour which is so exciting. It’s got hints of basil, lavender flavours… it’s completely different. People need to open their minds to exploring something totally new when they try it.
“When processing to get different flavours, we have very little coffee to experiment with, so we can’t do everything we want to do at once. It’s about balancing the risk with discovering new flavours and possibilities.”
Have you got an roasting tips?
Charles shares: “As I explained above, the beans are tiny, so it’s incredibly hard to work with – from the farming side right through to the roasting.
“We actually use a stethoscope now to hear the first crack! That’s a good tip for anyone roasting from home.
“We can’t treat this like arabica, it’s completely different and it needs its own protocols and practices.”
What are racemosa coffee’s current cupping scores?
Coffee Review has scored racemosa from our farm above 90 points in previous crops, and the current crop was just scored by a coffee research university in Brazil at 91 on the SCA scale by six Q-graders.