What Are the Different Varieties of Specialty Coffee? Did You Know That Specialty Coffee Growing Regions Span the Globe?

This article is part of our professional coffee knowledge exchange, shared so more readers can explore great beans.

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Specialty Coffee Growing Regions and Varieties

Coffee trees are cultivated in the equatorial zone between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, known as the "Coffee Belt."

There are 62 coffee-growing countries in the world, with three main coffee-growing regions. Each region has its own topography, climate and coffee flavors, which in turn shape local cultivation and processing.

Coffee is divided into three major regions: Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific.

Latin America

Its coffee growing areas cover Mexico, Central America and South America. Latin American coffees often have balanced flavors of cocoa or nuts, with refreshing, pleasant acidity.

Africa

The homeland of exotic coffee, and the region that set high standards for coffee quality. Most African coffees are rich and juicy, with floral and citrus notes, berry aromas and spice undertones.

Asia/Pacific

Its coffee growing regions include the Indonesian archipelago, East Timor, South Asia and Papua New Guinea. Often processed by "semi-washed" methods, Asia-Pacific coffees are full-bodied, sweet and smooth, with herbal and earthy aromas.

Arabica has many subspecies, all descended from Ethiopia's most ancient Typica and Yemen's Bourbon, which were transplanted to Central and South America or Asia and later mutated; the varieties are far too numerous to list. Specialty coffee, however, refers mainly to carefully cultivated high-altitude Arabica, so there are not too many types. They are roughly classified as follows.

Ancient Native Varieties

Typica

The oldest native variety from Ethiopia; all Arabica varieties descend from Typica. It has bronze-colored new leaves and oval or slender-pointed beans, with an elegant flavor, but the plant is weak, resists disease poorly and yields little fruit. Excellent estate beans such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling and Hawaii Kona all belong to the Typica family.

Bourbon

A variant of Typica carried to Yemen in early times (pre-coffee history), with the bean shape changing from slender-pointed to round. In 1715 France transplanted the round beans from Yemen Mocha to Bourbon Island off the east coast of Africa (renamed Reunion Island after the French Revolution), and it was named Bourbon from there. The round Bourbon beans reached Brazil and Central and South America in 1727, and in 1732 Britain transplanted Yemen Mocha to St. Helena Island (where Napoleon was later imprisoned), which was also round Bourbon. Bourbon is a frequent champion in American specialty coffee cuppings.

The bronze-colored new leaves of Typica are one of its characteristics.

Genetic Mutants

Bourbon Pointu

Discovered on Bourbon Island in 1810, with beans changing from round to pointed and a caffeine content only half that of regular beans; however, production is low and the plant is weak, making it extremely precious (mostly cultivated in laboratories).

Maragogype (Elephant Bean)

The most famous variant of Typica, first discovered in 1870 in the Maragogype coffee region of Bahia state in northeastern Brazil. Its beans are at least three times larger than regular Arabica beans, hence the name. Maragogype has poor flavor at low altitude but better flavor high up, with mild acidity and a pleasant sweet aroma.

Geisha

A derivative variety belonging to the Typica family, exported from Mount Geisha in southern Ethiopia in 1931 (Geisha is pronounced the same as the Japanese word for "geisha"). It stayed obscure in many countries until it was transplanted to Panama in the 1960s, only to win cupping competitions again and again starting in 2005.

Knowledge Point

In terms of flavor, commercial beans are far inferior to specialty coffee beans. Commercial beans are generally chosen for blending, and once blended they can be used to make espresso drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos.

In Summary

FrontStreet Coffee is a research-focused coffee establishment, happy to share knowledge about coffee with everyone. Our unconditional sharing is solely to help more friends fall in love with coffee. We also hold three low-price coffee events every month, because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest price. That has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is one of the world's best-known specialty origins and the birthplace of coffee, which is why it holds so many native varieties and remains a treasure trove for drinkers who follow its flavors. The easy entry point is FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe: clear jasmine and bright citrus acidity, the town itself a small place in southern Ethiopia's Sidama zone where the seasons feel like spring all year, misty and cool, and thousands of coffee trees thrive. The result is that Yirgacheffe signature interweaving of florals and fruit acidity, light and elegant with a tea-like body, like a clean, refreshing lemon tea.

Most Ethiopian coffee uses a garden-farming model, with each smallholder sending harvested cherries to a village-level processing station, and the resulting lots are sold under the team's name - which is why there are so many cooperatives, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Gutingting, Woka and Konga. Gutingting is in the Woka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe and began as part of the Woka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU); as demand for traceability grew, the independent single origins were uncovered one by one, and in 2012 Gutingting, with about 300 member farmers, became a cooperative in its own right. Because the pulp is stripped before drying, its own aroma comes through more clearly, showing citrus and lemon character and elegant white florals, bright and fine overall. Different again is FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried red cherry, which removes damaged or moldy fruit, then dries in the sun for two weeks until the fruit sugars and essence have seeped into the bean and the moisture content falls to 12%; the hardened pulp, mucilage and husk are then scraped away, and the beans pass density and color tests before workers hand-sort the last defects. The result is uniformly fine beans with a clean, lifted character and rich, appealing fruit, described as peach, cocoa, honey and lemon.

For a fruitier, more tropical profile, FrontStreet Coffee's Huakui comes from the Hambella area of Guji in Sidama. The farm covers 200 hectares and uses traditional sun-drying; to keep the fruit from molding or picking up earthy off-notes, workers spread the ripe cherries on raised beds for 21 days, turning them constantly for even drying and hand-sorting moldy or defective beans every three to five days. Once the skin dries hard, a huller removes it, and the farmers screen once more for a perfect cup. Because the fruit and skin stay on through drying, a medium-light roast brings out a light fermented wine aroma, florals, citrus and mango with a much richer, more complex cup, sweet honey and cocoa notes with a touch of spice, a full body and a lasting finish. FrontStreet Coffee's Kafa Forest coffee is another distinctive option: rather than garden planting, Kafa is known for wild coffee, with trees growing in shade between 1,400 and 2,100 meters, where the pristine ecosystem, microclimate, red soil and plentiful rain provide ideal conditions. Roasted medium-light, it shows clear white florals on the grind, bright lemon acidity on entry, sweet orange and bergamot, and a finish with a gentle melon-seed sweetness, like green tea.