Of the over 100 different species of coffee plants, only two— Coffea Arabica and Coffea robusta produce the beans used in the thousands of coffee blends sold. Wild relative species (that grow naturally in the wild) are needed to cross with domesticated coffee crops to insure their longterm viability. From the journal, Science Advances,“The study found that 75 wild coffee species are considered threatened with extinction, 35 are not threatened and too little is known about the remaining 14 to make any judgement.” Complicating the overall outlook for the continued survival of these trees, 45% are not able to be backed up in seed banks and must rely entirely on wild stocks for replenishment. Read the complete BBC article, World’s coffee under threat, say experts
