Coffea stenophylla (colloquially called stenophylla) is a coffee species that hails from Sierra Leone, a country on the Southwest coast of Africa bordered by the nations of Guinea and Liberia. If you’re unfamiliar with stenophylla, that’s understandable—it is a little-known coffee species compared to its more famous cousins, Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (aka robusta). Also sometimes known as “highland coffee,” stenophylla could become an essential tool in the coffee industry’s toolkit for adapting to climate change. As research into the recently re-identified species progresses, the scientists and stakeholders are focused on finding ways to grow the industry while supporting the communities in Sierra Leone, where the plants were rediscovered in 2019 and are being trialed.
In a new feature for Sprudge Special Projects desk, Victoria Brown goes deep into the roadmap offered by stenophylla for a coffee industry facing grave danger from climate change. Her work takes us from researchers in the United Kingdom to seed nurseries in Sierra Leone, exploring the promise of stenophylla along the way. “We believe Stenophylla will be an important element in creating a more sustainable coffee supply chain,” says Dave Behrends, Managing Partner & Head of Trading at Sucafina. “Supporting those communities in Sierra Leone and the research into stenophylla will potentially help other regions of the world that are suffering from a warming climate to have a viable coffee production alternative.”
Read “Coffee Stenophylla Is Ready For A Closer Look” on Sprudge Special Projects
Special Projects Desk is a hub for long-form original journalism and select archival features on Sprudge. Since 2009, Sprudge has been the world’s premier home for thought-provoking coffee journalism, evocative photo essays, design deep-dives, and cultural narratives. Special Projects Desk continues this tradition in 2023 and beyond, platforming exceptional works from the field of coffee journalism.
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