In fairness, this is kind of alarmist, because it's jumping to the conclusions that wild arabica beans are going to be the best undiscovered coffee in the world. There's loads more to coffee than just arabica and robusta, and many of those varietals and the interbreeding of them are where coffee is currently hitting it's experimental fringe. It would be a tragedy to lose one undiscovered species or varietal, don't get me wrong, but more from a biodiversity point of view than as a loss to the coffee-drinking world specifically.
I agree that it makes assumptions, but given that the wild beans represent the vast majority of untasted arabica coffee varieties, doesn't simple math dictate that there must be some amazing beans in there?
On the other hand, the sheer diversity means that even if there are, there is no saying we would ever stumble upon them... It's sort of like music I guess. We know that the best songs on Earth (to us) are out there, waiting to be discovered. For every song we know that absolutely floors us, there are dozens more out there by obscure artists that poor chains of distribution and knowledge prevent us from ever knowing. There are bands out there making breathtaking music that I will never stumble upon. If those bands break up, how much of a loss is it for me, really? As long as I have awesome music to listen to, I guess a certain essential need has been satisfied.In fairness, this is kind of alarmist, because it's jumping to the conclusions that wild arabica beans are going to be the best undiscovered coffee in the world.