Coffea liberica is a species of coffee that originated in Liberia, West Africa. The coffee tree grows up to 9 metres in height, producing cherries that are larger than the cherries found on Arabica trees. The coffee was brought to Indonesia to replace the Arabica trees killed by the coffee rust disease at the end of the 19th Century. The coffee itself has more in common, cupping wise, with Robusta. It is still found in parts of Central and East Java today.
A varietal of Liberica, known as Baraco, is a major crop in the Philippines. However, many growers and traders there pass off Excelsa as Baraco because supply of real Baraco, or Philippine Liberica, is very limited and a large part of it goes into making various coffee blends.The town of Lipa (now Lipa City) became the best producer of Liberica in the 1880s but soon collapsed when the Coffee rust disease came out, almost killing all coffee plants which has threatened the varietal with extinction. Today the provinces of Batangas and Cavite are the producers of Liberica in the Philippines.
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