Arabica coffee is more expensive than Robusta coffee for several reasons. Arabica plants have lower yields than Robusta plants and are more susceptible to diseases like coffee leaf rust. These diseases have wiped out entire Arabica crops. As a result, Arabica must be grown in higher elevations and select conditions where production is more expensive. Additionally, fluctuations in global Arabica supply driven by weather and crop diseases cause Arabica prices to vary more than Robusta prices.

1. WHY IS ARABICA COFFEE
EXPENSIVE?
By: www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org

2. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
When they buy coffee at the market or order a cup
of Java with their meal, some folks are only
interested in the caffeine and others are looking
for the excellent aroma and taste that comes
with an Arabica coffee. For those who only want
enough caffeine to stay awake, Robusta coffee
is cheaper and has a higher caffeine content.

3. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
The reason that coffee house coffee is more
expensive is that they use Arabica coffee beans
from places like the Colombian coffee triangle.
So, why is Arabica coffee expensive? Is it all
about the market for better tasting coffee or is
there more to the story?

4. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
Coffee Harvest for Arabica vs Robusta

5. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
Both Arabica and Robusta coffee plants take three
to four years from when they are planted until
they bear fruit. Both will typically keep
producing coffee beans for twenty-five to thirty
years and then taper off but potentially keep
producing for up to fifty years or even more.

6. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
During that time a Robusta coffee plant routinely
outproduces an Arabica plant by about thirty to
forty percent yield.This is assuming that both
plants remain healthy and produce year after
year.

7. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
Coffee Leaf Rust and Other Coffee Diseases

8. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
The British grew coffee on the island of Ceylon
(now Sri Lanka) until the middle of the 19th
century until a fungal disease killed all of the
coffee plants which was when they switched to
growing tea forcing much of the British public to
become tea drinkers instead of coffee drinkers.

9. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
Coffee leaf rust has wiped out vast areas of coffee
production over the years spreading across the
East Indies to Africa and in about 1950 to Brazil
from where it spread bit by bit up through
Colombia and into Central America and Mexico.

10. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/

11. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
How Plant Diseases Like Leaf Rust Affect Coffee
Prices

12. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
Developing newer varieties of Arabica that are
cross bred from resistant strains and growing
Arabica only at higher elevations where it is
cooler have helped Arabica production recover
but made Arabica more expensive to grow and
more scarce. Climate change with progressively
higher temperatures has driven Arabica
production higher into the mountains also thus
reducing output and driving prices up.

13. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
Fortunately for Robusta coffee, it is resistant to
coffee leaf rust and many other coffee plant
diseases.Thus it can be grown at lower
elevations and is not prone to having whole
fields wiped out by plant disease.This makes
Robusta cheaper to grow and maintain so the
coffee farmer can sell at a lower price than
Arabica and still make a profit.

14. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
The Market Determines the Price of Coffee

15. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
The eternal problem for coffee farmers in the
mountains where coffee grows best is the same
for farmers everywhere.When there is a great
year with ideal weather, no new crop diseases,
and, thus, a bumper crop, the price of their crop
falls.This problem is often compounded by
exchange rates. Coffee is priced in dollars and is
quoted on the NewYork Mercantile Exchange.

16. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
You can walk into coffee cooperative office in the
heart of the Colombian coffee triangle and see aTV
screen with up-to-the-minute price quotes in dollars
and conversions to Colombian pesos. Every time
Brazil has a bumper crop the price of Arabica falls
and when they have drought and production falls
the price goes up everywhere. Because Robusta can
grow and produce in dryer conditions it is less prone
to such variations in crop yield and thus less prone
to such extreme price variations.

17. https://buyorganiccoffee.org/2002819/why-is-
arabica-coffee-expensive/
For more insights and useful information about
organic coffee, visit
www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org.