Most Americans- even those with years of experience as coffee professionals- have little familiarity with clean, high-quality, espresso-grade Robusta.
This shouldn’t be surprising. For most of us, the only Robusta we’ve encountered is the cheap, rubbery, low-grade Robusta that show up in commercial-grade blends that we stopped drinking years ago.
As a result, too many people misunderstand the role that the rare high-quality Robusta can play in an espresso blend. One Robusta myth that we’ve heard many people say is “Robusta will give you more crema.”
In tinkering with espresso for the past 15+ years, though, we’ve learned that Robusta makes a slightly different contribution to an espresso blend.
Our Finding: Inclusion of a small amount of high-quality Robusta in an espresso blend doesn’t give you MORE crema. What it supplies is LONGER-LASTING crema.
The three photos above demonstrate this phenomenon.
- PHOTO #1: We pulled an espresso using only Monsooned Malabar (i.e. a single-origin espresso) and took a snapshot 20 seconds after the start of the shot. Note how the cup contains almost nothing but crema.
- PHOTO #2: We photographed the same Monsooned Malabar single-origin espresso 45 seconds after the start of the shot. Note how the crema has dissipated 30-40% and now stops slightly above the bottom part of the glass handle.
- PHOTO #3: We pulled an espresso using Malabar Gold Espresso. This blend uses Monsooned Malabar as its base component but also includes a small amount of high-quality Robusta. We took the photo 45 seconds after the start of the shot (i.e. same timeline as for Photo #2). Note how the amount of crema remaining stops slightly below the bottom part of the glass handle. This is noticeably greater than with the shot produced using just Monsooned Malabar.
The Takeaway: Using a bean like Monsooned Malabar-AA Super Grade as the base component of an espresso blend is what will give you MORE crema. Incorporating a small amount of high-quality Robusta will allow the abundant crema from your base component to LAST LONGER.