Stenophylla

Coffea stenophylla G. Don, Highland coffee, Narrow-leaf coffee

Coffea stenophylla is a wild coffee of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire with narrow leaves and black fruit, cultivated and exported from Sierra Leone until the early twentieth century and then forgotten. Kew-led fieldwork rediscovered it in the wild in 2018, and sensory trials published in 2021 rated it arabica-like despite its growing under temperatures suited to robusta, making it the leading candidate species for climate-resilient high-quality coffee. Genome-wide studies of Sierra Leone accessions are now mapping its trait diversity. It is assessed as Vulnerable.