The New York Board of Trade's front-month December arabica contract lost 0.95 cent, or about 0.9 percent, to settle at $1.0690 a lb., after trading from $1.0585 to $1.0850.
The top trade, which was 0.50 cent above on Tuesday's peak, was the loftiest price for the contract since August 12. "The origins took advantage of the rally," said Fernando de la Roach of Hencoop Coffee Group.
But exporters in top coffee grower Brazil were less inspired to sell dollar-denominated coffee because of the surging value of the real against the US currency, he added.
Brazil's currency has rallied more than 20 percent against the dollar since the start of the year. Among other NYBOT arabica futures, March slipped 0.90 cent to end at $1.1075 a lb., and more distant deliveries finished off 0.10 to 0.80 cent.
On the fundamental front, Mercian Coffee Corp projected Brazil's 2006/07 crop in the range of 44 million to 48 million 60-kg bags.
"Our perception for Brazil as a whole is that, even with normal rains in November, the production potential for crop 2006/2007 will be notably lower than the bumper 2002/2003 crop of 53 million bags," Mercian said in a report.
Still, the arabica market has gained some 13 percent from last week's bottom trade of 96 cents. The bullish sentiment has been fuelled by a combination of light producer selling, improving technical indicators and crop losses in Central America and southern Mexico following recent severe storms.
NYBOT trading volume in coffee futures fetched an estimated 22,558 contracts, down from Tuesday's official tally of 29,125 lots.