The revival of a lost coffee strain could pave the way for more climate-resilient java

Caffeine addicts, rejoice: Stenophylla — a heat-tolerant coffee strain “lost” to commercial production for over 50 years — has been successfully grown in a Sierra Leone pilot project backed by coffee trader Sucafina, Bloomberg reports.

Why is this important? At least 60% of all wild coffee species are at risk of extinction, Sucafina said, explaining that coffee requires very specific temperatures to be able to grow. For example, Arabica coffee has an annual temperature requirement of around 19°C, according to Union coffee roasters. ⁠While other coffee species such as Robusta are more resilient to hot temperatures, but much lower in quality.

Enter Stenophylla: The coffee strain can be grown in temperatures 7°C warmer than the similar tasting Arabica bean, so the revived strain may hold the “genetic keys” to making coffee more resilient to climate change while still maintaining premium quality, the coffee trader said in February when the pilot tests were still in progress.

We probably won’t get to taste it for a while: The researchers that rediscovered the forgotten coffee strain have been working with Sucafina to propagate more than 3k stenophylla seedlings in nurseries, but it may take anywhere from 2 to 7 years for the trees to start bearing fruit.