I decided to try a small bag of mostly robusta coffee after a pleasant surprise at a Vietnamese restaurant.
It was, and is fantastic. It is a major flavour departure from Arabica so for those of you set in your ways, it might not be for you. The flavour is hard to describe, but the taste and aroma are very strong and immediately recognizable. The smell is very sweet and earthy. The flavour is like ... spiced stonefruit.
The restaurant served it with sweetened condensed milk and it was amazing. At home I drink it black.
If you're in for something different, worth a try.
I tasted it alongside some arabica beans some years ago and it tasted like burnt rubber.
I also tried Vietnamese coffee at a place in Europe and that was even worse: cannot fathom drinking that liquid without heaps of sugar and/or milk! I hope that’s not how it always tastes… :)
This is sadly always my experience with robusta. Ive tried to like it. I have had "specialty" robusta on a few occasions from roasters who had a reputation for doing nice things with it.
It's just not my bag. If/when arabica succumbs to climate change, I will probably stop drinking coffee
I don't get any rubber but taste is subjective. I'm quite fond of it, though I don't see it replacing my arabica. ;)
While I agree with you on the burnt rubber, I very much like Robusta to be part of my "bar" Espresso roast for Cappuccino. It just somehow reminds me of Southern Italy. 😁
Also, there are various Robusta origins and it depends on the roast. If you have black and oily beans and only Robusta... Yep, burnt rubber.
Oh Robusta has for sure its place in espresso blends: I actually prefer a good 20-30% blend for cappuccino, as 100% arabica is a bit thinner and gets a bit lost with the foamy milk :)