Have You Ever Heard of the Three Main Types of Coffee Beans? Is Arabica a Region Name? Read This Article to Clear Up Your Confusion

Introduction to Coffee Varieties

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Coffee is gradually becoming a mainstream beverage, entering our daily lives. However, many people are not familiar with it. So today, I'd like to introduce its basic information, hoping to help everyone better understand it.

Types of Coffee Beans

Looking at the world's major coffee varieties, there are approximately 25 species. However, only about three types are used commercially by humans: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica.

Originally, coffee beans were not processed by roasting as they are today, but were boiled directly - imagine the taste was rather poor. It wasn't until the 13th century that Arabs gradually developed the processing method of roasting, giving coffee its unique flavor. Today's most widely used coffee bean is Arabica. Jamaica's Blue Mountain, Sumatra's Mandheling, and Kenya AA are just special names given due to their distinctive flavors or specific growing regions.

This coffee is mainly distributed at high altitudes between 1000 to 2500 meters, with temperatures between 15-24°C and optimal rainfall of 1500-2000mm annually. From flowering to fruiting takes about 9 months. Its caffeine content is only half that of Robusta beans, and mature fruits fall automatically. No wonder this is the most widely used coffee bean - it's the naturally falling fruit! This way, coffee farmers only need to bend down and pick up the full fruits to harvest~~ Just a little joke - truly good coffee beans still need to be hand-picked, so we should cherish every cup of coffee, as it doesn't come easily.

Next is the Robusta coffee bean. This coffee has a strong flavor and is quite suitable for producing the instant coffee we're familiar with. It mainly grows in low-altitude areas, around 0 to 800 meters, with suitable temperatures around 24-30°C and optimal rainfall between 1500-3000mm annually. The fruits mature in 10 to 11 months. It has the highest caffeine content, and mature fruits hang on the branches. I recall that during high school, we needed instant coffee with coffee creamer to stay awake, especially during exam periods when coffee was indispensable cup after cup.

Finally, there's the least common Liberica coffee bean. This coffee bean tastes rather bitter and is troublesome to process, but it's accepted for its strong vitality. Although its production accounts for less than 2% of the world's total, it has the strongest vitality and is suitable for growing in subtropical regions with optimal temperatures between 19-27°C. Interestingly, its leaves are quite large, and it can be cultivated through grafting or used as an ornamental tree. It makes me want to plant one myself - simple, beautiful, and economical.

From an appearance perspective, all three coffee beans have their own characteristics. Arabica beans are similar in shape to goose eggs - elongated and full. Robusta beans are smaller and round. The easiest to recognize should be Liberica - long and thin, like a small boat.

In Brief

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research establishment, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation only to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Additionally, we hold three discounted coffee events each month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest prices. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past 6 years!

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