Eat This Podcast: Coffea stenophylla tastes terrific
Hello
A little less than a year ago I talked to Professor Jeremy Haggar about his successful search for Coffea stenophylla in Sierra Leone. A hundred years ago, it had an extremely good reputation, but was shoved out by much more productive robusta coffee. Although they found a few plants, probably not more than 100 in total, they were disappointed that there were no coffee berries on the bushes.
In early 2020, a colleague returned to the rediscovered bushes and gathered a handful, literally, of fruits. Then came covid, and efforts to taste the coffee stalled. At last, stenophylla beans have now been appraised by experts, and just last week the researchers published their conclusion: “we are able to corroborate historical reports of a superior taste”.
I spoke to Jeremy Haggar again to catch up on the story and what it means for the future of coffee and the future of Sierra Leone.
All the best
Jeremy