But production in Colombia, which provides 10% of the world's Arabica beans, has dropped 36% since 2005.
Now, scientists are analyzing the samples to see if the expedition really did unearth a forgotten Arabica plant.
Healthy Arabica plants grow 10-12 feet tall and have dark-green leaves, white flowers and red or purple beans.
Around 70% of production is the robusta type of beans, the more bitter and cheaper variety than arabica.
Output in Brazil, the world's leading Arabica producer, recently hit a four-year low.
True espresso must be made entirely from arabica beans, which have half the caffeine of the alternative robusta variety.
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest-quality arabica coffee in the world.
They publish a magazine, Arabica, that celebrates Arab culture, and put on an annual Arab International Festival that attracts more than 150, 000 people.
Futures for arabica coffee, the variety most commonly brewed in the world, have been falling along with other commodities, amid gloomy headlines out of Europe.
Maejantai farmers grow two strains of true Arabica, Catuai and Typica.
The company forecast that fiscal year profits for 2011 will be offset by 20 cents per share due to the rising price of arabica coffee beans.
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World output of arabica coffee will shrink 4.3% to 79.6 million bags in the current crop year, which began in October, according to the London-based International Coffee Organization.
Ventures like World Coffee Research must also overcome friction with national research institutions that often aim to protect local interests, notably in Ethiopia, believed to be the fatherland of Arabica.
The trend cuts across Latin American countries that depend on washed arabica beans, which require subtle growing techniques and processing, and are the type nearly always used in gourmet coffee.
Latin American growers of the premium beans still bear the scars of 2001, when arabica prices hit an all-time low of 41.5 cents a pound, one-eighth the price only four years earlier.
Coffee historians believe most of the world's Arabica coffee crop shares genetic ancestry with two 18th century plants: one brought to Europe from Indonesia, and another taken from Yemen and cultivated in Brazil.
The fungus has ruined what was supposed to be a good year for Colombia, the world's second-largest producer of high-quality arabica coffee, the mild-flavored, hand-picked beans for which coffee traders usually pay a premium.
There is also a fantastic resource on the different types of beans available and how they are processed - discussing the difference between Arabica and Robusta coffees and a very interesting explanation of how monsooned beans are made.
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