this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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[–] kadu@scribe.disroot.org 25 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (4 children)

Brazil's Embrapa is trying to breed Robusta to have a taste profile more closely matching Arabica, whilst also resisting the heat better. Difficult challenge given Robusta tastes like burnt rubber.

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 33 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

This is gonna be like the Gros Michel banana thing again isn't it - where decades from now almost none of the world's coffee will taste as good as it used to, and nobody quite knows why.

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I doubt because in that case we do have seeds of the plant and it can be put in a greenhouse, generally the situation is way different, i'il explain myself better:

Gran michele is now extinct because of how it was cultivated; In practice, to avoid having seeds in the fruit, production was carried out using cuttings, so practically all Gran Michele plants were clones of a group of other Gran Michele plants, meaning that genetic mutations never developed. Since none of them had developed a mutation capable of resisting a fungus (the name of which I cannot remember), they ALL died and we simply didn't had seeds

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (3 children)

You can still buy the Gros Michel banana nowadays. It's not extinct, but is a rare and expensive speciality, rather than the common type of banana we see on the shelves like it used to be.

$37 USD per banana, on this particular site

If climate change makes growing Arabica coffee commercially non-viable at scale and all the growers move to hardier alternatives, then Arabica will still exist - absolutely - but instead of being the coffee you can drink every day it will also become a rare and expensive speciality, just like the banana.

[–] arrow74@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 hours ago

Wow that's gone up me and a few coworkers ordered a box a couple of years ago and it was like $9 per banana.

They were good, I see the appeal of the variety, but they were not $9 banana good. Let alone $37 banana good.

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 1 points 5 hours ago

Damn, didn't know they still existed, sadly they cost a lot :/

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 8 points 8 hours ago

Quote did not age well.

[–] kadu@scribe.disroot.org 10 points 10 hours ago

Very likely, yes

[–] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

As long as embrapa also gives a 3x multiplayer it will be ok

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

the roaster i like has a bean from honduras and that's what i'm betting on

[–] DivineDev@piefed.social 2 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

Robusta tastes like burnt rubber

I will not accept this baseless slander! Vietnamese coffee (which is basically always robusta) mixed with sweetened condensed milk is the best coffee known to man and I will allow no different opinion.

[–] kadu@scribe.disroot.org 16 points 9 hours ago

with sweetened condensed milk

To be fair, it's almost impossible to screw up condensed milk, it always tastes good.

[–] phar@lemmy.world 6 points 9 hours ago

I have a different opinion

[–] shininghero@pawb.social 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I've had a couple good roubustas, but it is a fickle breed to roast. If done wrong, even a medium roast will come out tasting like Folger's. Moderately higher quality Folger's due to the freshness, of course, but still Folger's.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago

Good thing I prefer light roast, like so light it turns fluffy when grinding.

[–] ugandan_airways@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I’ve been to Vietnam several times, and their coffee is basically crack. I couldn't stop drinking it.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 hours ago

There are coffee drinkers, then people who drink melted desserts.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 9 hours ago

The taste profile comes from warm sunny days and cool nights. That cycle is critical and why the best coffee comes from subtropical mountain regions.