Coffee species
Excelsa
A Central African coffee species long sold and classified as a kind of Liberica, and proposed as a species in its own right in 2025. Its seeds are closer to arabica's in size and shape than Liberica's are, it is farmed at middle elevations, and growers in several countries are turning to it for its tolerance of heat and dry spells.
Where it comes from
Excelsa is native to Central Africa: the 2025 study that separated it gives its range as the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Uganda. Liberica in the strict sense comes from further west. Both are recent crops, brought into farming less than two hundred years ago, and for most of that time botanists treated excelsa as a variety of Liberica.
How it grows
The study describes excelsa as growing wild at middle elevations, higher on average than Liberica, and in drier country: its sites receive markedly less rain a year, while mean temperatures are almost the same. It reports excelsa as farmed mainly between about 500 and 1,200 metres. Its wild sites are not simply drier, since their driest month is wetter than Liberica's and the rain is spread more evenly. The authors say field observations suggest a considerable measure of drought tolerance, particularly compared with robusta, and that field trials would be needed to compare the species properly. Compared with Liberica it has longer, broader leaves but smaller fruit and smaller seeds, with thinner pulp and a much thinner parchment. The authors report a higher yield, which they put down to the number of fruits a tree carries, and more clean coffee from the same weight of fruit, which they put down to the thinner pulp and parchment.
Origins in the atlas where it is grown
What it tends to taste like
The study says only that Liberica and excelsa have contrasting flavour profiles, enough to matter to buyers and to justify selling them separately. It does not describe either.
A tendency, not a guarantee
Very little excelsa is traded, most of it has been sold under Liberica's name, and CoffeeHQ has found no sensory study of it to cite. Descriptions that circulate in the trade rest on a small number of lots and are not repeated here.
What it is used for
According to the study, attention to excelsa is growing in Uganda, South Sudan and Guinea because it can produce a commercial crop under higher temperatures and longer dry periods. It reports production rising in India as conditions worsen for arabica and robusta, and in Vietnam and Indonesia to supplement robusta. Because its seeds resemble arabica's in size and shape, they suit existing processing equipment better than Liberica's large, irregular ones.
Names and classification
Until 2025 the accepted treatment was one species, Coffea liberica, with two botanical varieties, of which excelsa was var. dewevrei. A study published in Nature Plants in August 2025, based on 353 nuclear genes from 55 samples together with measurements of the plants and their ranges, divides the group into three species: Coffea liberica, Coffea dewevrei (excelsa) and Coffea klainei, a little-known species of west-central Africa that has never been domesticated. This is a recent proposal from one research group. Trade usage has not followed it, and many sellers and older references still call excelsa a Liberica.
How this page was put together
A synthesis of published botanical and agricultural research, in CoffeeHQ's own words. Taste descriptions are tendencies reported in that literature, not the result of CoffeeHQ tasting. Last reviewed 2026-10-08.
What we have deliberately not stated
- A caffeine figure. The study gives none and CoffeeHQ has not found one it can stand behind.
- A production figure. The study estimates Liberica and excelsa together at probably less than 1,000 tonnes a year and does not separate them.
- Resistance to particular pests or diseases, which the study does not address.
- Any description of how it tastes.
Sources
- Genomic data define species delimitation in Liberica coffee with implications for crop development and conservation — Nature Plants, 11(9), 1729–1738