Arabica Coffee Bean Classification - Types and Sales Guide

An Introduction to Arabica Coffee Varieties

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There are many coffee varieties in the world, and as the homeland of coffee, Ethiopia has countless wild coffee species. Arabica coffee is generally grown at altitudes above 1,200 meters, with Arabica accounting for approximately 70% of coffee production, a higher proportion than Robusta beans. Arabica coffee beans were introduced to Europe from the Arab region and can be divided into Typica and Bourbon varieties based on their different introduction points. Additionally, through genetic mutations and hybridization, they can be further subdivided into many different varieties.

As one of the three major coffee varieties, Arabica coffee encompasses numerous coffee varieties. FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce you to these Arabica coffee varieties. The varieties of Arabica coffee grown in each country are different, yet they are interrelated. For example, the renowned Panama Geisha variety - don't assume that just because it grows in Panama, it's native to the region. In fact, Geisha coffee was first cultivated in the Geisha Forest of Ethiopia.

The Journey of Geisha Coffee

After being discovered in Ethiopia, Geisha coffee was sent to research institutes in Kenya, then introduced to Uganda and Tanzania in Africa, continued to Costa Rica, and eventually reached Panama. There, the Geisha variety took root and quickly became one of the world's top-tier coffee beans.

As Geisha coffee's popularity has grown, many places have introduced the Geisha variety. Even Jamaica Blue Mountain has begun cultivating Geisha coffee, sufficient proof of how popular the Geisha variety's flavor profile has become.

Jamaica Blue Mountain and Typica

Speaking of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce you to Jamaica Blue Mountain's Arabica coffee. Jamaica primarily cultivates the Typica variety, with trees reaching 4 to 5 meters in height, horizontal branch growth, bronze-colored young leaves, and long tree lifespans. Moreover, Typica is considered one of the best-flavored coffee varieties with excellent sweetness, but it has a drawback - low yield and susceptibility to disease, particularly leaf rust infection.

Therefore, few places now cultivate the Typica coffee variety; most grow its variant - Bourbon. Bourbon originated from coffee trees transplanted from Ethiopia that underwent genetic mutation when cultivated on the French Bourbon Island, and has now spread to East Africa and Brazil. The trees reach 4-5 meters in height, with branches growing diagonally upward and green leaves. Although this variety is similar to Typica, it is hardier and more productive. Bourbon is also an exceptionally flavorful variety within Arabica coffee, and compared to Typica, it has higher yields - though it's also susceptible to diseases, the higher production makes up for it.

Brazil's Coffee Varieties

Speaking of Bourbon, FrontStreet Coffee must introduce Brazil, this coffee giant. Because most of Brazil's coffee varieties are Bourbon, and Bourbon mutated in Brazil, producing many Bourbons with different flavor profiles. For example, Yellow Bourbon is currently only grown in São Paulo state, Brazil, and the Pink Bourbon variety, which resulted from recessive gene mutations between Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon - both of these varieties are extremely rare and precious. FrontStreet Coffee also offers these two coffee beans: one is Yellow Bourbon from Fazenda Rainha in Brazil, and the other is Isabella Pink Bourbon coffee beans from Colombia.

Terroir and Coffee Quality

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Ethiopia has over 3,000 native coffee varieties, from which people have selected several for cultivation. The coffee varieties in the Yirgacheffe region are unique, possessing intense floral and fruity aromas, and can be considered one of the highest-level coffee varieties. As the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil's harvesting techniques and processing methods are very advanced, no longer using manual labor to pick coffee fruits but machines. This leads to a problem: uneven coffee maturity. Additionally, because most Arabica coffee beans are grown on plains, this is very unfavorable for the accumulation of coffee substances, resulting in relatively plain Brazilian coffee flavors that lack the balanced, multi-layered mouthfeel of Colombian coffee beans.

Brazilian coffee and Colombian Arabica coffee have very similar flavor profiles, partly due to their geographical proximity. You might wonder why they taste different if they're close geographically - this involves terrain and climate. One major difference between Arabica and Robusta coffee is terrain - Arabica is mostly grown at higher altitudes, while Robusta has very low soil requirements and is generally planted in low-altitude areas. The higher the altitude, the higher the density and hardness of coffee beans, and the longer the fruit maturation period, resulting in higher sugar concentration inside the coffee. Therefore, high-altitude coffee has better flavor than low-altitude beans, which is why some countries or regions grade coffee beans based on hardness or altitude.

Therefore, it's understandable that low-altitude Brazilian coffee beans don't taste as good as high-altitude Colombian Arabica coffee beans. However, growing at high altitudes also adds certain difficulties to coffee fruit harvesting. Let FrontStreet Coffee give you an example: in Brazil's plain terrain, as long as you maintain proper spacing between coffee trees when planting - spacing that allows machine harvesting - you save labor and thus reduce costs. As for the Colombian coffee beans FrontStreet Coffee just introduced, they're grown on the steep slopes of the Andes Mountains, where machines cannot enter at all, requiring manual harvesting, which is why these coffee beans are correspondingly more expensive.

Altitude Exceptions

However, nature is truly amazing - just when everyone thought only Arabica coffee beans grown above 1,200 meters would have rich flavors, exceptions always appear. According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Kona coffee beans from Queen's Ranch in the Hawaiian Islands have an altitude of only about 1,100 meters. Due to Hawaii's island climate, the coffee produced has full flavor, proving that coffee growing altitude is one of the criteria for measuring Arabica coffee quality, but not the only one.

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