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Complete Guide to Coffee Bean Varieties | FrontStreet Coffee's Roasted Bean Label Interpretation and Coffee Bean Naming Rules

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). Before purchasing coffee beans, understand the roasted bean labels. Coffee beans themselves have distinct regional characteristics. Before buying, understand the coffee bean's flavor. Coffee labels are similar to wine labels, generally providing much information about coffee flavor from the label. Common content includes...

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For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

Understanding Coffee Bean Labels Before Purchasing

Coffee beans themselves have distinct regional characteristics. Before purchasing, understanding the flavor of coffee beans, coffee labels are similar to wine labels, generally providing much information about coffee flavor from the label.

Common contents include the following items:

(1) Coffee variety
(2) Coffee name
(3) Grade
(4) Growing region
(5) Estate or processing station name
(6) Country name
(7) Roasting date
(8) Flavor description, etc.

Example:

Country Names --- 【Costa Rica】 Costa Rica, 【Panama】 Panama, 【Guatemala】 Guatemala, 【Rwanda】 Rwanda, 【Ethiopia】 Ethiopia

Growing Regions --- 【Tarrazu】: Tarrazú is a major coffee-producing region in Costa Rica, located on the low-latitude volcanic belt of Central America, with the highest average latitude, excellent climate and soil conditions. The central plateau and mountainous areas have an altitude of approximately 800-2000 meters.

Like 【Yirgacheffe】 Yirgacheffe (Ethiopian coffee region), 【Antigua】 Antigua (Guatemalan coffee region), 【Boquete】 Boquete (Panamanian coffee region), 【Nyeri】 Nyeri (Kenyan coffee region)

FrontStreet Coffee's new roasted coffee bean labels contain hidden features, with added 【QR codes】 to learn specific coffee bean growing region information, pour-over information, and roasting information.

Generally, coffee beans are named in the following ways:

Named by Country:

Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Bolivia, Nicaragua

Named by Growing Region:

Yirgacheffe, a small town under Sidamo, was separated due to its unique flavor.

Gesha Village

Named by Mountain Range:

Blue Mountain: Jamaica

Kilimanjaro: Tanzania

Named by Variety:

Mandheling: such as Gayo Mandheling, Lintong Mandheling, Kerinci Seblat Mandheling

Named by Variety:

Geisha: such as Panama Geisha, Colombia Geisha, Guatemala Geisha

Named by Export Port:

Mocha: a port in Yemen

Santos: a port in Brazil

Malabar: Indian monsooned Malabar coffee, known as monsoon coffee beans, Malabar is a port in India

Named by Unique Flavor or Special Processing Method:

Ninety Plus company, Ninety Plus beans take a completely different approach to naming compared to conventional specialty beans, without growing region and estate names. Each bean is named according to its flavor. For example, Zhu Mang means "best approach" in the local dialect. It starts with a flavor concept, then gets named.

Collection | The Most Comprehensive Ninety Plus Detailed Explanation

Estate Names

Some estate-level beans will indicate the estate, like names starting with 'La', 'EL', or 'finca' generally indicate estate names. For example 【El injento】: El Injerto Estate, (Fazenda Rainha) Estate, Panama La Esmeralda Estate, El Naranjo Estate, Finca Canet Estate

Processing Methods

Natural, Washed, Honey, Wet-hulled, Semi-natural, Semi-washed, etc.

(Recommended reading: Professional Barista Training | Illustrated Guide to Coffee Cherry Processing, Flavor Characteristics and Roasting Changes)

【Honey Process】: Honey processing is the method of removing the pulp while retaining the mucilage, then drying the fruit with the parchment. Honey-processed coffee has higher sweetness than washed coffee, higher sugar content, and relatively higher body.

【Natural】: The oldest and most original processing method for coffee beans, where harvested coffee cherries are placed on patios, sometimes even directly exposed to sunlight on roadsides, directly receiving sun exposure (about 27-30 days), reducing moisture from 60% to about 12%. Natural process characteristics: lowest acidity, obvious sweetness, high body, slightly lower cleanliness.

【Full Washed】: Washed processing removes the skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying. They are guided to a clean water tank and soaked in water for fermentation. Characteristics: obvious acidity, good cleanliness, medium body, high stability. Semi-washed (semi-washed)

Also, coffee processing methods | Indonesian Wet-hulled, Pulped Natural, Honey Process

Varieties

Like Geisha, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai are coffee bean varieties. Complete Coffee Varieties | Introduction to Ancient Coffee Varieties, Introduction to Native and Mutation Varieties and Flavor Characteristics

【Bourbon】: Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) is coffee produced from Arabica coffee Bourbon cultivar trees. Bourbon coffee was originally cultivated in Réunion, which was called Bourbon Island (Le Bourbon) before 1789, with rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavors.

【Caturra】: Caturra is a natural mutation of the Arabica Bourbon variety

【Yellow Catuai】: Yellow Catuai, a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, first cultivated by Brazil's【Agronomic Institute of Campinas】in 1949. Yellow Catuai, like Red Catuai, has high disease resistance and is suitable for high-altitude cultivation. Both Catuai varieties have delicate, clean acidity.

【Yellow Bourbon】: Yellow Bourbon is a mutation from the hybrid of red-fruited Bourbon and a Typica mutation called "Amerelo de Botocatu" that produces yellow fruit, with sweet and smooth fruit sweetness, obvious nutty flavors, balanced and gentle acidity, clean.

【Pacamara】: Pacamara coffee variety, discovered in El Salvador in the 1950s, is a hybrid of Pacas (a natural mutation of Bourbon) and Maragogype (Elephant Bean).

Grading

【SHB】: Strictly Hard Bean (SHB), altitude between 1600-1700 meters. High-altitude【coffee bean hardness】is higher because coffee beans have more nutrients, longer fruit growth cycles, higher density, and can withstand high-temperature roasting; beans are hard in texture.

【G1】: Like Indonesian coffee beans using this defect proportion grading method, Indonesian beans are mainly divided into 6 levels, G1~G6. Ethiopia also uses this method, grading by defect level G1~G5, where 2-3 defective beans per 300 grams of raw beans are classified as G1. The highest grades for natural processed beans are G1 and G3.

【AA】: Origins that grade by coffee bean size. Kenya is divided into nine grades based on bean shape, including PB (PeaBerry), and by size: E (Elephant), AA, AB, C, T, TT, MH, ML. Also Tanzania, Uganda, Yunnan and other places use AA grading.

【NY 2】: Brazil's grading system evaluates defect proportion, size, flavor and taste scores, with its own independent grading system, more complex than other countries. For example "Brasil Santos NY 2 SC17/18 SS FC"【NY2】is defect proportion grading: larger numbers represent higher defect proportions. In order: 2, 2/3, 3, 3/4..., NY indicates based on New York grading standards. Coffee Regions | Brazilian Coffee Grading System and Four Common Brazilian Processing Methods

Special Names

【COE】: Cup of Excellence, COE is held annually, specialty coffee growers submit their best coffee beans to domestic or international judges for review. After at least five evaluations, the highest-grade coffee beans will be awarded the COE designation. Cupping | How to Conduct Cupping and Scoring, Detailed Scoring Standards for SCAA and COE Cupping Items

【Micro lot】: Micro-lot coffee beans refer to coffee from a single estate, specially selected from all coffee crops for better special flavor performance. The quantity of coffee beans that can be called micro-lot is extremely limited (between five to one hundred bags, usually around thirty to forty bags). Most micro-lot coffee beans come from "coffee honor students" selected by single estates or cooperatives.

【FNC】: Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, this organization was established in 1927, fully responsible for coffee-related matters, including coffee cultivation technology research, sales, marketing, quality standard construction, coffee farmer education and training, etc.

【Cauca Best Cup】: Cauca Best Cup, jointly organized by well-known American traders, local exporters and the Colombian Coffee Association. The first Cauca Best Cup in 2014 received about 200 participating samples, while 2015 saw more than double that number, with about 500 small farmers competing in this competition. The organizers select the top 30 from 500+ samples, then an international jury conducts cupping to select the final top 12. On the last day of the event, green bean traders and roasters from around the world attending the Cauca Cup bid for them.

【BOP】: Best of Panama, Panama Green Bean Competition 2018 Panama BOP | Auction Results Released! New Record Breaker Breaks Historical Record