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Laurina and Eugenioides: The Low-Caffeine Coffee Plants, Explained

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Quick answer: Laurina is a variety of arabica, a natural mutation of Bourbon first noted on Réunion, and published figures put its beans at roughly half the caffeine of ordinary arabica. Eugenioides is something else again: a wild species and one of arabica's two ancestors, measured at about 0.5% caffeine by dry weight. Both are low in caffeine, neither is caffeine-free, and the amount varies a great deal from one bean to the next.

The essentials
  • Laurina is an arabica variety; eugenioides is a separate species and a parent of arabica
  • Reported figures: Laurina at 0.6 to 0.7% in the literature quoted by Priolli et al. (2008) against about 1.07% for red Bourbon; eugenioides at 0.51% against 2.64% for robusta (Campa et al., 2005)
  • Single-bean testing in 2010 found Laurina anywhere from 1.17 to 9.97 mg/g, so low on average does not mean low every time
  • Laurina yields poorly, and eugenioides is grown in tiny quantities
  • Low-caffeine is not decaf, and this page is general information, not medical advice
  • One species, Coffea charrieriana, was described in 2008 as caffeine-free, but you cannot buy it as coffee

Two plants, two very different stories

People often lump Laurina and eugenioides together as the "low-caffeine coffees", and the shorthand hides an important split. Laurina is a cultivated form of Coffea arabica, the species behind nearly all the coffee you drink. Coffea eugenioides is a different species altogether, a wild African coffee plant that only reached specialty cups recently.

Think of it as a family tree. Eugenioides sits near the root; Laurina is a twig on the Bourbon branch. If you want the wider cast, our arabica versus robusta guide covers the main species, and the FAQ on naturally low-caffeine varieties gives short answers.

What do the measurements actually say?

Start with eugenioides, because the species comparison is the cleanest. Campa and colleagues (Food Chemistry, 2005) analysed 21 wild Coffea species and taxa and found eugenioides at 0.51% of dry matter, where robusta (Coffea canephora) came in at 2.64%. They also describe the distribution across species as discontinuous: some are close to zero, others above 2.5%.

Laurina needs more care. Priolli et al. (Genetics and Molecular Biology, 2008) report Laurina at 0.6 to 0.7% in the literature they cite, set against about 1.07% for red Bourbon. A Brazilian line selected from Laurina, called Bourbon LC, was reported at 0.6% versus 1.2% for standard arabica (Sondahl, 2001). So the halving story has real support, but it comes from a handful of studies and a conference paper.

Why "on average" matters

Here is the part that rarely makes the label. Mazzafera and Silvarolla (Seed Science Research, 2010) measured caffeine in single green beans. Laurina ranged from 1.17 to 9.97 mg/g; red Bourbon from 6.76 to 16.59 mg/g; one Catuaí bean reached 25.9. The ranges overlap, and the scatter within a single variety is wide.

So a bag of Laurina is a good bet to be lighter in caffeine than a bag of Bourbon, but any single bean is a lottery ticket. A study on seedlings (Adler et al., Trees, 2016) confirms the laurina mutation itself lowers caffeine, which is reassuring about the trait being real.

Where does each plant come from?

Laurina, also sold as Bourbon pointu, is generally thought to have been selected in a field on the island of Bourbon, now Réunion, at the start of the nineteenth century. The historians and plant scientists behind a 2009 paper in Euphytica (Lecolier et al.) add that the exact origin is ambiguous and still argued over. The tree is a dwarf with a Christmas-tree outline, and the beans have a good cup reputation. It belongs to the Bourbon family, and the Laurina FAQ has the short version.

Eugenioides matters for a different reason. Arabica arose from a natural cross between canephora and eugenioides, dated by Salojärvi et al. (Nature Genetics, 2024) to between 610,000 and 350,000 years ago. Earlier work by Lashermes and colleagues had already pointed to a eugenioides-like species as the maternal donor. Our robusta guide covers the other parent, and the eugenioides FAQ has a quick summary.

Why you rarely see them on a shelf

A 1988 Brazilian paper (Carvalho, Fazuoli and Mazzafera) singles out Laurina as a low-yielding cultivar and describes crosses with Mundo Novo, a productive variety, to try to keep the low caffeine while raising output. Low yield is the main reason Laurina stays a niche lot rather than a supermarket staple.

Eugenioides is rarer still. The only commercial source I could trace is one Colombian farm, Inmaculada, near Pichindé at around 1,700 to 2,000 metres. A British roaster states that a tree produces roughly 150 g of green coffee a harvest, about half an arabica tree. That figure comes from a seller, so treat it as one data point.

What are they like to drink?

Roasters describe Laurina as sweet, clean and gentle, sometimes tea-like. Eugenioides gets far stranger write-ups: marshmallow, papaya and guava from one seller, and "cheerful" and sweet from the specialty press, along with the frank note that some drinkers feel it hardly tastes like coffee. Those are impressions from individual lots, not a sensory standard.

My own advice is to try them as filter coffee, and to buy them for the oddity rather than the caffeine argument.

Is there any coffee plant with no caffeine?

Botanically, yes. Coffea charrieriana, described in 2008 by Stoffelen, Noirot, Couturon and Anthony in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, was announced as the first caffeine-free Coffea species from Central Africa and only the second from the African continent. Campa and colleagues also found other wild species at trace level, such as 0.03% in Coffea salvatrix. I found no established commercial supply of any of them.

What does "low caffeine" mean for your cup?

On average and all else equal, Laurina gives you less caffeine per gram of ground coffee than a typical arabica. The dose you actually get still depends on how much coffee you use, how you brew it and the bean-to-bean scatter. If you need a coffee with almost no caffeine, read our decaf guide and the page on caffeine in decaf. For effects in general, see the caffeine and health guide.

This is general information, not medical advice. Pregnancy, medication or sleep problems are questions for a health professional (see also coffee and pregnancy).

How to buy without being fooled

Look for the variety name (Laurina, Bourbon pointu or Bourbon LC), the farm, the altitude and the process. Be wary of any "low caffeine" claim with no dated measurement behind it. For eugenioides, expect a very small bag and a collector's price, worth trying out of curiosity before anything else.

Keep reading: Bourbon variety · Typica variety · All guides · Specialty coffee FAQ · Glossary: caffeine

Frequently asked questions

Is Laurina decaffeinated coffee?

No. Laurina is an arabica variety that is naturally lower in caffeine, about 0.6 to 0.7% in the literature quoted, which is roughly half of ordinary arabica. It still contains caffeine.

What is the difference between Laurina and eugenioides?

Laurina is a variety of Coffea arabica, a mutation of Bourbon. Eugenioides is a different species, Coffea eugenioides, one of arabica's two parent species, measured at about 0.51% caffeine by dry weight.

Can I rely on a precise caffeine dose with Laurina?

No. Bean-by-bean tests vary widely, from 1.17 to 9.97 mg/g in a 2010 study, and the amount in the cup also depends on how the coffee is brewed.

Why are these coffees rare and expensive?

Laurina is known for low yields, and eugenioides is produced only in very small quantities. Prices follow lot rarity, with no public reference scale.

Sources

  1. Campa C., Doulbeau S., Dussert S., Hamon S., Noirot M., Qualitative relationship between caffeine and chlorogenic acid contents among wild Coffea species, Food Chemistry 93, 2005, pp. 135-139. https://library.sweetmarias.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/caffeine-and-chlorogenic-acid-contents-among-wild-Coffea.pdf
  2. Priolli R.H.G. et al., Caffeine inheritance in interspecific hybrids of Coffea arabica x Coffea canephora, Genetics and Molecular Biology, 2008. https://www.scielo.br/j/gmb/a/v8zCVxyGtvDvwmK5JGhnjfg/
  3. Sondahl M.R., Coffee breeding assisted by somaclonal variation: case of 'Bourbon LC' variety, 19th ASIC Colloquium, Trieste, 2001. https://sidalc.net/search/Record/KOHA-OAI-BVE:89284
  4. Mazzafera P., Silvarolla M.B., Caffeine content variation in single green Arabica coffee seeds, Seed Science Research, 2010. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/seed-science-research/article/caffeine-content-variation-in-single-green-arabica-coffee-seeds/8EC5FD5D5D9C84DDCD701FA51E86CCEE
  5. Lecolier A., Besse P., Charrier A., Tchakaloff T.N., Noirot M., Unraveling the origin of Coffea arabica 'Bourbon pointu' from La Réunion, Euphytica 168, 2009, pp. 1-10. https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010046129
  6. Adler S., Mouille G., Fock-Bastide I., Citerne S., Noirot M., Comparison between Coffea arabica L. 'Laurina' and C. arabica 'Bourbon' seedlings, Trees 30, 2016, pp. 665-674. https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010066945
  7. Carvalho A., Fazuoli L.C., Mazzafera P., Melhoramento do cafeeiro: produtividade de progênies derivadas de hibridação dos cultivares Laurina e Mundo Novo, 1988. https://sidalc.net/search/Record/KOHA-OAI-BVE:82130
  8. Salojärvi J. et al., The genome and population genomics of allopolyploid Coffea arabica reveal the diversification history of modern coffee cultivars, Nature Genetics, 2024. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11018527
  9. Lashermes P., Combes M.C., Trouslot P., Anthony F., Charrier A., Molecular analysis of the origin and genetic diversity of Coffea arabica L., CIRAD, 1996. https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2022-02/010009009.pdf
  10. Stoffelen P., Noirot M., Couturon E., Anthony F., A new caffeine-free coffee from Cameroon, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008. https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010042785
  11. Specialty Coffee Association, Coffee Plants of the World. https://sca.coffee/research/coffee-plants-of-the-world
  12. Kiss the Hippo Coffee, The World's Rarest Low-Caffeine Coffee (seller page: Inmaculada lot, yield per tree, cup notes); Sprudge, What is Eugenioides Coffee?. https://kissthehippo.com/blogs/news/introducing-eugenioides-the-world-s-rarest-low-caffeine-coffee