A low-caffeine southeast African wild coffee of coastal forests, noted for heat resilience and studied as a gene pool for breeding.
*Coffea racemosa* is a diploid (2n=22) shrub or small tree, up to about 3.5 m, of coastal and riverine forest and woodland in southeastern Africa. Checklists list Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as native. It contains less than half the caffeine of arabica and about a quarter of robusta's, and one study describes it as highly resilient to environmental pressures, particularly high temperatures, and to several pests and diseases.
Researchers see it as a possible gene pool for breeding and as a source of 'naturally decaffeinated' coffee. It is still essentially wild: Wikipedia lists it as Near Threatened and notes only two known plantations as of 2018, on Ibo Island and at Hluhluwe.
History
Described by João de Loureiro in 1790. Researchers in Mozambique now study it as a resilient gene pool for coffee breeding.
Field notes
- i
Racemosa contains less than half the caffeine of arabica and roughly a quarter of robusta's.
- ii
As of 2018 only two plantations were known, one on Ibo Island in Mozambique and one at Hluhluwe in South Africa.
Sources · 3 Every sentence here was checked against a source we read. Taste notes are what guides describe, not promises about your bag. Last revised 2026-11-10.
- GBIF species distributions from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (Coffea arabica, canephora, liberica, eugenioides, stenophylla, racemosa, congensis, charrieriana) · GBIF / Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (WCVP)
- Coffea racemosa · Wikipedia
- Genomic Evaluation of Coffea arabica and Its Wild Relative Coffea racemosa in Mozambique · PubMed Central