World's Top 10 Coffee Rankings: Understanding Typica Coffee Beans - Are They Better Than Arabica?

World's Top 10 Coffees, and What Typica Really Is

1. Geisha Coffee

English Name: Geisha coffee

Reputation: The most expensive coffee bean, a three-time consecutive cupping champion

Origin: Ethiopia, Panama, Colombia

Flavor and Characteristics: Raw beans are blue-green, and roasted beans show some wrinkles. Floral notes, tropical fruit, and intense sweetness.

2. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

English Name: Blue Mountain coffee

Reputation: The second most expensive coffee in the world

Origin: The Blue Mountains of Jamaica

Flavor and Characteristics: A very rich aroma with lingering fruit notes. Perfectly balanced acidity, sweetness, body, and bitterness. Aromatic and exceptionally smooth to drink.

3. Colombian Coffee

English Name: Colombian coffee

Reputation: Known as emerald coffee and small-bean coffee; the second largest coffee-producing country

Origin: Colombia

Flavor and Characteristics: A sweet aroma with a pleasant acidity balanced by sweetness. Its moderate concentration makes it a common component of premium blends. The sweet, subtle fragrance is understated yet elegant.

4. Brazilian Coffee

English Name: Brazilian coffee

Reputation: The largest coffee-producing country

Origin: Brazil

Flavor and Characteristics: Lower acidity balanced by a sweet-bitter taste. Extremely smooth on the palate with a subtle fresh-grass aroma. Sweet and mellow.

5. Yirgacheffe Coffee

English Name: Yirgacheffe coffee

Reputation: Grown in an ancient wetland

Origin: Ethiopia

Flavor and Characteristics: Small and delicate beans. A unique lemon, floral, and honeyed sweetness. Soft fruit acidity and citrus flavors. A clear, bright taste with a rich texture.

6. Guatemala Coffee

English Name: Guatemala coffee

Reputation: Known for its tobacco-like character

Origin: Guatemala

Flavor and Characteristics: Raw beans are blue-green, small, and slender. One of the more acidic varieties. The flavor is acidic and mellow with a slightly wild edge, which makes it well suited to blending. A rich flavor with tobacco notes, a smooth mouthfeel, and a slight charcoal finish.

7. Indonesian Mandheling Coffee

English Name: Mandheling coffee

Reputation: Also known as Sumatran coffee

Origin: Indonesia

Flavor and Characteristics: Raw beans are brown or dark green. Very rich, aromatic, bittersweet, and full-bodied with a touch of sweetness. An indispensable variety for blending. Mellow aroma, moderate acidity, and a rich, substantial taste.

8. Civet Coffee (Kopi Luwak)

English Name: Kopi Luwak coffee

Reputation: Also known as civet coffee

Origin: Indonesia

Flavor and Characteristics: Produced by collecting and processing beans from civet droppings. When civets eat ripe coffee cherries and pass them through their digestive system, the beans ferment in the stomach, producing a unique flavor that has become highly sought after on the international market.

9. Hawaiian Coffee

English Name: Kona coffee

Reputation: Known as Kona coffee

Origin: United States

Flavor and Characteristics: A perfect appearance, with exceptionally full, glossy beans considered the world's most beautiful coffee beans. Smooth and rich, with an enticing nutty flavor and well-balanced acidity.

10. Yunnan Coffee

English Name: Yunnan coffee

Reputation: Known as Yunnan small-bean coffee

Origin: Yunnan Province

Flavor and Characteristics: Small, round beans with floral notes mixed with citrus flavor. An acidity with berry notes and an extremely dry mouthfeel. A rich malt flavor that feels understated. Every characteristic is strong yet well balanced.

The Typica Variety

Typica is a natural variety of Arabica and is currently the most common bean variety worldwide. Its yield is relatively low and it is extremely susceptible to leaf rust, so most plantations do not grow Typica exclusively. Unlike other varieties, Typica coffee fruits are cone-shaped. Its quality is extremely high, which makes it popular with plantations around the world. When properly cultivated, Typica coffee has high sweetness, a pure flavor, and a pleasant acidity.

Knowledge Point: Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans are of the Typica variety.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the balance of Jamaican Blue Mountain appeals to you, the best way to experience it is through a certified single origin rather than a blend that borrows the name. FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 comes from the historic Clifton Mount Estate, planted with Arabica at an altitude that the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board accepts as true Blue Mountain. The estate is Rainforest Alliance certified, keeps its production focused on sustainable practice, and recycles the water used in its processing plant; the wooden barrels that carry its green beans are stamped with the green rainforest tree frog logo.

Blue Mountain's charm is balance rather than drama. It is not as sharply fruity as some African coffees, nor as heavily bitter as a dark roast; instead it finds an exceptional equilibrium among acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and aroma, with cream, caramel, chocolate, nut, honey, and a light fruit character, a soft rounded entry, a sweet mid-palate, and a clean, lingering finish. FrontStreet Coffee roasts it medium-dark to bring out the chocolate sweetness while keeping some of the elegant acidity, and ships it within 5 days of roasting so it arrives at its best.

For brewing, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a Kono dripper, whose ribs stop well below the halfway point so the filter hugs the wall and slows the airflow, extending the contact time and building a fuller body. Use 15 grams of coffee at a 1:15 ratio, a grind coarse enough to pass 75% through a #20 standard sieve, and water at 88 degrees Celsius. Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, pour in a slow circle to 125g, then continue to 225g once the bed is about to be exposed, for a total extraction time of 2'00". The cup shows rich dark chocolate, nut, and caramel, a creamy texture, a moderate body, and a clean sweet aftertaste.