The next big brew on the global stage

• Excelsa coffee, a century-old discovery from South Sudan, is gaining global attention amid a climate-induced coffee industry crisis.
• Climate change is devastating top coffee producers like Brazil, causing a 12% output decline and record-high prices.
• As extreme weather threatens global coffee supply, Excelsa is emerging as a potential resilient alternative.

At the moment, a century-old discovery from South Sudan, Excelsa coffee, is the name on every coffee connoisseur’s lips. The wonder bean is now making waves in the global coffee scene as climate change tightens its grip on the world’s leading coffee-growing regions, manifesting by faltering production amid soaring prices. As the industry search for solutions, Excelsa is emerging as a potential game-changer.

According to the Global Coffee Market 2024 report, Brazil—the world’s top coffee producer—is set to suffer a 12 per cent decline in output due to extreme weather. The same fate is unfolding across other coffee-growing powerhouses, including tropical East Africa, as drought, erratic rainfall, and rising temperatures threaten the future of the beloved brew. Could Excelsa be the resilient alternative the world needs?

“What history shows us is that sometimes the world doesn’t give you a choice, and right now there are many coffee farmers suffering from climate change that are facing this predicament,” notes the head of coffee research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, Aaron Davis. He adds that bad weather doesn‘t just paint a picture of doom and gloom, but rather, it could offer a sliver lining to the dark cloud, excelsa.

For over a decade, Davis has been leading a team of researchers in studying the excelsa bean and its producers.

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Excelsa: What makes it the coffee of the future?

According to analysts, what makes excelsa standout and earn its alias ‘climate smart coffee’ is the fact that its tree has considerably deep roots, thick leathery leaves held up by a big trunk. “Each of these features àllow it to thrive in extreme conditions such as drought and heat where other coffees cannot,” the expert explains.

Davis goes on to detail that excelsa “.is also resistant to many common coffee pests and diseases.”

Up until recently, the researcher notes, the excelsa bean only made up, but one percent or even less of the global market. “Excela still lags well behind the arabica and robusta species that are the most consumed coffees in the world, Davis added.

The expert also admits that, despite its unique drought and pest resistance features, excelsa will have to “prove to be practical at a much larger scale to bridge the gap in the market caused by climate change.” For now, it’s mostly only available for purchase online and by speciality orders as well.

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Can South Sudan produce enough to meet market demand?

“Coffee needs peace,” that’s how rightfully describes the coffee growing challenge that South Sudan faces. “Unlike neighbouring Ethiopia or Uganda, oil-rich South Sudan has never been known as a coffee-producing nation,” Davis says.

He goes on to describe how its (South Sudan) British colonizers grew robusta and arabica; “but much of that stopped during the decades of conflict that forced people from their homes and made it hard to farm. Coffee trees require regular care such as pruning and weeding and take at least three years to yield fruit,” he points out and notes that, if this period is interrupted, then there would be no favorable yields, if any at all.

The tall coffee tree excelsa grows mostly in Nzara County in the Western Equatoria state, the country’s breadbasket. Unlike its more popular and favored competitors, the short bushy renowned arabica and robusta species, the excelsa trees can reach 15 meters (about 49 feet) in height. However, with growing commercial viability, even the excelsa may also be pruned and tamed to a shorter ease to manage height.

“Coffee made from excelsa tastes sweet,” describes Ian Paterson, the Managing Director of Equatoria Teak, an agroforestry company in South Sudan.

According to him, it has a different taste from world famous robusta with its renowned notes of chocolate, dark fruits and hazelnut. “It is much more similar to arabica, but generally less bitter and tends to have less body, so to speak,” he explains.

The Managing Director of the sustainable agro-forestry company is of the opinion that they, Equatoria Teak, are at the forefront of research to unravel the mysteries of the tall coffee, as they call it. With more than a decade in research, the company has been doing trials on excelsa and according to him, initial results are promising.

“It is able to withstand heat much better than other species,” he reiterates. It is this fact that makes excelsa so promising in the face of global warming. “We are working with communities to revive the coffee industry and scale up production,” he goes on to detail.

Already, the company has issued seedlings and training to some 1,500 farmers, to grow the tall coffee and when harvest comes, the farmers are assured of selling back to the company. The initiative is paying off, most of the trees started producing for the first time this year, and the first batch, some seven tonnes are due for export to specialty shops in Europe.

It is projected that by 2027, the tall coffee will earn an impressive $2 million and already, big buyers like Nespresso have shown interest. As the world grapples with climate change and global warming threatening coffee production even as demand grows,it is excelsa, the tall drought resistant coffee that will bridge the gap.

Neighboring countries Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, that are more peaceful and have much more vast farming lands, stand to gain from this research. A recent report by Business Daily the region is already seen increased demand due to an output shortage in Brazil.

“East African coffee producers, including Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, are set to benefit from a projected drop in Brazil’s coffee output due to a severe drought in the world’s top producer,” the report reads in part.

It goes on to explain that; “The drought, which has caused the driest conditions in key agricultural areas since 1981, is expected to curtail Brazil’s coffee production, driving global prices higher.”