Arabica is the highland coffee of the Ethiopian mountains, the species behind most speciality coffee. Indian legend says the Sufi saint Baba Budan smuggled seven beans from Yemen in the 1600s and planted them in the Chikkamagaluru hills. Today Indian arabica grows in Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, the Nilgiris, the Shevaroys, the Palani hills and Andhra’s Araku Valley. Tamil kapi and Hindi coffee mean this crop, though robusta is grown more widely.
- Botanical name
- Coffea arabica L.
- Family
- Rubiaceae
- Tamil
- Kapi
- Hindi
- Coffee
- Parts used
- Seed after roasting
- Habit
- Arabica coffee; mocha is a shop word and not a bean named mochai
- Last updated
- 2026-10-27
How to recognise Coffee
It is an evergreen shrub, usually kept to two metres or so, with slender, drooping branches.
The leaves are glossy, dark green, oval and wavy-edged, smaller and thicker than robusta leaves.
White, jasmine-scented flowers open in clusters along the branches after rain and last only a few days.
The cherries ripen from green to red or yellow over about seven to nine months.
Each cherry holds two seeds with a flat face and a curved groove, the coffee beans.
Traditional use of Coffee
Kitchen
South Indian filter kapi is brewed slowly in a two-tier steel filter and mixed with boiled milk and sugar, often frothed by pouring between a tumbler and davara.
Tamil and Karnataka food practice
Kitchen
In Ethiopia, coffee ceremonies roast green beans in a pan, grind them by hand and brew them in a clay pot called a jebena.
Ethiopian food practice
Processing
Monsooned Malabar coffee is made by exposing beans to monsoon winds in open warehouses on the coast, which swells them and softens their acidity.
Karnataka and Kerala coffee trade practice
Modern notes on Coffee
Arabica is a natural cross between robusta and another wild coffee species, and it can pollinate itself.
The beans contain about one to one and a half per cent caffeine, roughly half the level of robusta.
Coffee leaf rust destroyed the coffee estates of Sri Lanka in the 1870s, which then turned to tea, and the disease still threatens arabica worldwide.
In India the white stem borer beetle is a major pest of arabica in sunny estates.
Coffee safety
Healthy adults are generally advised to keep caffeine below about 400 milligrams a day, and pregnant women below about 200. Raw green beans and the coffee cherry should not be fed to pets.
Ecology and sourcing
It grows wild in the understorey of montane forests in south-western Ethiopia.
Wild arabica forests are a key genetic reserve, threatened by forest loss and warming.
Shade-grown estates in the Western Ghats are important habitats for birds.
Related plants
Also in Rubiaceae
Questions about Coffee
What is the difference between arabica and robusta?
Arabica is milder and more aromatic; robusta has more caffeine.
Is mocha a coffee species?
No. It is a trade name from the Yemeni port of Mocha.
Who brought coffee to India?
Tradition credits Baba Budan in the 1600s.
What is Monsooned Malabar?
Arabica beans aged in monsoon air on the Indian coast.
Is mochai related to coffee?
No. Mochai is a bean, Lablab purpureus.
Sources
- Coffea arabica L. — Plants of the World Online, Kew (search) (accessed 2026)
- Wikidata item Q47685 (Coffea arabica)
Educational page about a plant. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an offer to sell. Traditional use is historical. If you need care, ask a licensed clinician. Questions: hello@meevamed.com.