“Between 1.08 million and 543 thousand years ago, deep in the montane forests of Ethiopia, a remarkable natural hybridization occurred. Two coffee species—C. canephora and C. eugenioides—came together, giving rise to the very first C. arabica tree.
To us humans, these events may seem ancient, but in evolutionary terms, they’re surprisingly recent. As a result, C. arabica inherited incredibly low genetic diversity—the lowest among all species in the Coffea genus and the lowest among cultivated crops (in fact, comparable only to bread wheat). This limited diversity became even more pronounced as C. arabica began spreading across the globe roughly 600 years ago, starting in Yemen.”
In a new feature for Sprudge Special Projects Desk, Tung Nguyen reports on the long history, and recent scientific investigation, of our beloved arabica coffee plant.
Read “A Brief History of the Arabica Genome” 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.
Special Projects Desk is supported by La Marzocco, handcrafting espresso machines in Florence, Italy since 1927. Their mission is to support the growth of specialty coffee; they believe that increasing knowledge and understanding is the best way to develop a thriving future for the coffee industry.
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