Coffee in Sierra Leone • Excelsa, Stenophylla and Liberica • Bunaa

2.5 tonnes per hectare is the harvest productivity of Sierra Leone. On rank 2 is China with 2,2581 tons and on rank 3 Vietnam with 2,2503 tons.
The many wild-growing coffees are increasingly cultivated organically, including Robusta, Liberica, Stenophylla and Excelsa.
The cultivation areas are: Moyamba, Bo, Kenema and Kailahun.

The Coffea Liberica, which grows all year round, grows in the lowland up to 300 m height is a coffee giant with 20 m tree height.
It was discovered in Sierra Leone in 1834.
The beans are considered to be comparatively substandard because they are harder and less juicy. The fruits contain less sugar, but more caffeine.
Even if Liberica has the longest maturation process of 12-14 months, the plant is resistant to worms and coffee rust, more productive and more durable than Arabica and Robusta trees.
Tastefully bitter and intense and therefore more likely to be found in blends.
However, She is part of the the crossing with Arabica to the well-known Maragogype, which is cultivated mainly in Mexico and Nicaragua.

Origanally from Sierra Leone, Coffea Stenophylla was discovered in 1890: a particularly small-leaved coffee plant, cultivated at a height of up to 700 m.
The well-known “Highland Coffee” is made from those beans.
The plant needs little water. The beans are round and large, and the fruits become black during ripening.
Mild in taste, not typically African “earthy”, Stenophylla coffee is almost comparable to tea.
By the nature of a low caffeine content, one can drink the coffee also perfectly in the evening.

Coffea Excelsa (1% of world production), discovered in 1904 on Lake Chad, is also cultivated in Sierra Leone.
The plants are sober and thrive even on drier soil, with satisfying harvest productivity despite long maturity as with Liberica.
But they have a high caffeine content.
The beans are very similar to Robusta coffee: strong and full-bodied and particularly aromatic.

2 Comments