Excelsa coffee: The lesser-known variety that can weather changing climate

Blending coffee and music comes naturally to Carnatic musician and coffee roaster Akshay Vaidyanathan. In 2019, he founded Kapikottai, a coffee brand he describes as a fun entrepreneurial experiment. A year later, he launched a new specialty coffee roast using Excelsa coffee beans, a less popular species of coffee.

While he introduced it as a small, experimental batch, Vaidyanathan says, “It’s been an institution since then, and sells out fast. A lot of people don’t realise it is another species. They feel it’s just good coffee.”

That distinction may soon matter more than ever.

Both Arabica and Robusta, the two species that dominate global coffee production, face mounting stress from rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns. Temperatures above 30 degrees celsius reduce yields, affect bean quality and increase plant stress, particularly for Arabica coffee, which is more heat-sensitive than Robusta. India grows both varieties, though primarily Robusta, largely across the Western Ghats.

With changing climate conditions, researchers and farmers are turning to alternative and lesser-known coffee species. Among them is Excelsa.

An overlooked species

Excelsa (C dewevrei), native to parts of Tropical and West Africa as well as Southeast Asia, has long existed on the margins of India’s coffee landscape.

The trees, often planted as boundary markers or for shade, can be found in South and Northeast India....

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