It has come to my attention that... to make the greatest coffee in the world, you must first start with the most wonderful coffee bean in the world!
Coffee beans may be separated into two categories, "robusta" and "arabica". Robusta beans are grown at lower altitudes and in warmer climates, making them more versatile and easy to grow. Arabica beans are grow at high altitudes (1,800 ft to 3,600 ft above sea level). They must be grown in areas that experience defined seasons.
As a result of the different needs of the two types of beans, you may have figured out that robusta beans are able to be grown and matured all year, where as the arabica beans are grown in one season (the season with the most rainfall) and matured in the drier season.
The result of the different growing styles of the two plants result in a clear winner between the two beans.
The arabica bean takes the mug!
The arabica bean offers to the (more-than) occasional coffee drinker a dense bean and much milder and comparatively-less bitter tasting coffee. While the robusta bean does offer the drinker a higher caffeine content, the bean gives less than desired results for a quality cup of joe.
The robusta bean is used primarily for espresso, although coffee manufacturers do utilize its year-long growing season and associated lower cost to create their lower-cost grocery store blends that we've all grown to occasionally tolerate when the local coffee shop isn't an option at that moment.
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