Essential Guide to Arabica Coffee Bean Categories & Price Reports

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Common Coffee Species

The main coffee species are generally divided into two major categories: Arabica and Robusta. Within these categories, there are numerous smaller varieties. Therefore, we don't typically refer to coffee simply as Arabica or Robusta beans, but rather introduce them by their more specific subspecies.

Arabica

All high-quality coffees in the world come from the Arabica species, accounting for about 70% of global coffee production. Its flavor is rich, with excellent acidity and floral notes, but it has strict growing requirements. It must be cultivated in high-altitude areas, grows relatively slowly, and is highly susceptible to diseases and pests.

Robusta

Robusta is primarily grown in low-altitude areas with less demanding environmental requirements. Its yield is twice that of Arabica trees, making it easy to cultivate and highly resistant to diseases and pests. Since Robusta's chlorogenic acid and trigonelline content (the source of bitterness in coffee) are both twice that of Arabica, and its caffeine content is also higher, it naturally tastes bitter. It is rarely consumed alone and is the main raw material for instant coffee. Some espresso blends also include a certain proportion of Robusta to achieve better crema.

Arabica Coffee Varieties You Must Remember

(The coffee varieties introduced below all belong to the Arabica category and will be indicated on the packaging of the coffee beans you purchase)

Typica

Someone once said, "All delicious and noble coffees are Typica." Although this statement may be exaggerated, the world-renowned "King of Coffee" - Jamaican Blue Mountain - is indeed a Typica variety, and the so-called "Queen of Coffee" - Hawaiian Kona coffee - is also a Typica variety.

Typica is one of the oldest coffee varieties, grown in high-altitude areas. Over centuries, it has given rise to many other varieties, including Bourbon, Java, and Maragogipe. Typica has relatively low yield and is highly susceptible to leaf rust disease. When properly cultivated, this delicate variety produces high sweetness, clean taste, and pleasant acidity.

Bourbon

Bourbon originated from a natural mutation of Typica and is another ancient coffee variety besides Typica. It offers high quality with medium yield. Similar to its parent Typica, Bourbon has weak resistance to leaf rust disease. Due to its high sweetness, it is also a favorite food for coffee borers. It is most widely grown in Brazil and is also found in Burundi and Rwanda. Bourbon fruits are small, round, and have high density of pulp and seeds. They typically taste sweet with bright acidity. Bourbon is divided into Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon, and in recent years, Pink Bourbon varieties can also be found on the market.

Ethiopian Heirloom

"Rose, fresh strawberry aroma, with passion fruit, pineapple, and white wine flavors" - this description is used for the "Huang Guan" (Flower Champion), which became extremely popular this summer. However, "Huang Guan" is not the name of a coffee variety; its actual variety is Ethiopian Heirloom. If you see "Heirloom" on coffee bean packaging, it refers to Ethiopian native varieties. Ethiopia's Kaffa Forest is the gene pool of coffee and a rich treasure in the specialty coffee world. Most coffee varieties in Ethiopia originate from the Kaffa Forest. Ethiopian Heirloom beans may not look as uniform as Bourbon beans - they are smaller and inconsistent in size - but their floral and fruity aromas are always stunning.

Mundo Novo

Mundo Novo is a natural hybrid of Red Bourbon and Sumatran Typica, especially popular in Brazil and other regions, accounting for 40% of Brazil's total Arabica coffee cultivation. Mundo Novo is a high-yielding variety, 30%-40% higher than regular Bourbon, with strong disease resistance. Due to higher yield per plant, it typically has lower sweetness.

Caturra

Caturra is a single-gene mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in the 1950s. Both its yield and disease resistance are better than Bourbon. Caturra is most common in Central America. The plant is relatively short, making harvesting convenient. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it has the problem of biennial production cycles. Its flavor is comparable to or slightly inferior to Bourbon beans. More importantly, it has extremely strong adaptability - it doesn't need shade trees and can thrive under direct sunlight, commonly known as Sun Coffee. At the same time, Caturra can adapt to high-density planting, but requires more fertilization, increasing costs. Some scholars refer to Caturra as the intensive and sun-tolerant version of Bourbon, which is quite apt.

Catuai

Catuai is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra.

The plant is relatively small, with a small angle between lateral branches and main branches. Besides high yield, another outstanding advantage is that coffee cherries don't fall off easily after ripening, giving it strong resistance to wind and rain. It is favored in regions with frequent wind and rain.

Catuai can adapt well to various altitudes, performing exceptionally when planted above 800m. The fruits are commonly red and yellow, separately called Red Catuai and Yellow Catuai.

Catuai is widely grown throughout Central and South America, including Brazil. Catuai also has red and yellow fruit varieties, with the red fruit variety winning awards more frequently than yellow. Mundo Novo, Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai are the four main coffee varieties in Brazil.

Timor

Timor is a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta. Although its flavor is not excellent, it has strong disease resistance and has been used to cultivate many other varieties, including Catimor, which will be introduced later. For coffee growers, Arabica trees are highly susceptible to leaf rust disease (especially in low-altitude areas). Although such varieties might score lower in cupping and cannot be sold at top prices, many growers believe using highly disease-resistant hybrid varieties to reduce disease risk is worthwhile.

Catimor

Most Yunnan coffee beans sold in coffee shops are actually this variety. However, this variety is not considered a pure "Arabica bean." In 1959, Portuguese moved the Bourbon mutation Caturra to East Timor and crossed it with Timor (which has Robusta bloodline), cultivating the highly disease-resistant and productive hybrid Catimor.

It inherited the robust advantages of Robusta as well as the genes for poor flavor. To improve Catimor's poor cupping reputation, botanists from various countries have repeatedly crossbred Arabica with Catimor in recent years, attempting to improve Catimor's flavor.

Gesha/Geisha

"I finally saw God's face in a coffee cup!" exclaimed the famous American coffee reviewer Don Holly after first tasting Gesha's citrus aroma, honey sweetness, and floral notes.

With its beautiful English name and Chinese translation, the Gesha variety has surpassed established coffee powers like Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona. It actually belongs to one of the Ethiopian native varieties, first discovered in Ethiopia and later brought to Panama. Perhaps the local climate and soil nurtured it. The La Esmeralda family discovered during cupping that one batch had brighter, richer taste with plant floral flavors than other batches. They later searched the lot source and found Gesha coffee trees with different appearance from nearby coffee trees. They harvested and processed these coffee beans separately, and after entering competitions, they won first place. Its popularity hasn't waned in recent years. This year's natural processed Gesha at the Best of Panama specialty coffee bean auction fetched an ultra-high price of $601 per pound.

(In 2017, natural processed Gesha at Best of Panama fetched a high auction price of $601 per pound.)

SL28/SL34

Although perhaps lacking the history or beautiful names of other coffee varieties, SL28 and SL34 - Kenya's ace varieties developed by British and French researchers in laboratories and direct descendants of Bourbon - can make acid-loving coffee enthusiasts reach for their wallets at first sight. Kenya's unique soil with higher phosphorus content is rumored to be the secret behind the distinctive bright berry acidity of Kenyan coffee.

(Kenya 1963 stamps even feature scenes of farmers harvesting coffee red cherries)

Pacamara

"Rich flavor, diverse and complex, with both fruit acidity and intense sweetness, featuring various notes of apricot, vanilla, tropical fruits, chocolate, and spice sweetness." - The aroma and flavor of Pacamara

Pacamara is a hybrid of the large bean variety Maragogipe and the Pacas variety. Pacamara's journey hasn't been entirely smooth. Around 1990, Eduardo, owner of Pacamara Estate in El Salvador, decided to plant the newly developed Pacamara variety from El Salvador's agricultural technology unit. However, due to its huge size, local processing plants didn't have suitable peeling and separating machines, and most processing plants were unwilling to handle this troublesome new variety.

It wasn't until winning second place in El Salvador's COE in 2007, and later under cultivation at neighboring Guatemala's Finca El Injerto, that it gradually secured its position. People began to recognize it as another variety that could stand alongside Ethiopian native varieties and Typica, following the Gesha variety.

(Size comparison between Pacamara and other coffee varieties)

Conclusion

Now that you've read this, do you have a deeper understanding of coffee varieties? Besides the coffees mentioned above,我相信 there are more delicious varieties waiting in the Kaffa Forest and coffee genetics laboratories for us to discover and cultivate. Let's look forward to more wonderful flavors in our cups together.

Arabica Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Arabica coffee beans offer full assurance in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value for money. Each pack is 227 grams, priced at only around 70-90 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams of coffee beans per cup, one pack can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 5-6 yuan. Compared to the frequently over 100 yuan per cup price in coffee shops, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473