Colombian Coffee Bean Varieties: Typica, Maragogype, and Castillo - History, Stories, and Appearance

Colombian Coffee Production

Colombia has been growing coffee since the early 1800s, and today the country produces about 12% of the world's coffee, ranking behind only Brazil and Vietnam. The coffee plant varieties grown include ancient Arabica varieties such as Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Maragogype, and Castillo.

Typica

Typica is found in every major coffee-growing region of the world. This is due to its long history.

Typica's history can be traced back to southwestern Ethiopia, just like other Arabica coffees. Arabica was brought to Yemen between the 15th and 16th centuries and reached India by 1700. The seeds sent to the Malabar Coast of India and Java, Indonesia, are what we now know as the Typica variety.

Bourbon

The Bourbon variety followed a similar path to Typica through Yemen, but was transported further east, introducing seeds to Bourbon Island (now Réunion) off the coast of Madagascar. Like Typica, Bourbon is an integral part of the coffee variety family tree. It is still grown worldwide.

Castillo

The Castillo coffee variety was developed by Colombia's Coffee Research Institute CENICAFE in 2005 to combat the spread of La Roya (a fungus that attacks coffee leaves). It is a hybrid cross between Caturra (as the male parent) and Timor (as the female parent), with its thick leaves enabling it to withstand La Roya. It is a small tree slightly taller than Caturras, with long branches, large leaves, and large coffee beans. Compared to the most common Mandheling coffee as a standard, Castillo would be slightly smaller than Mandheling. Delicate and balanced; with light caramel and orange blossom aromas, it's perfect for those who prefer "not too strong" coffee. Of course, those who don't like this coffee should fall in love with Blue Mountain coffee. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the greatest characteristic of Blue Mountain coffee is its balance—so balanced that it lacks distinctive features, excelling in every aspect.

Maragogype

Maragogype has almost never been produced in large quantities, making it one of the super rare coffee types. Due to the size of the coffee beans, few farmers dare to produce this delicacy, which has also earned it its nickname: Elephant Bean.

Generally, Maragogypes can deliver floral aromas with citrus acidity and gentle sweetness, though they fall short compared to Geisha coffee. They surprise coffee roasters and baristas. This plant developed through natural mutation of the Typica variety, originally discovered in the city of Maragogipe in the northeastern state of Bahia, Brazil.

The size of these coffee beans means the trees need more space to grow and yield less harvest compared to other coffee plants. The branches have wide angles with the main trunk, with few secondary and tertiary branches, decorated with large flowers and bearing elongated coffee cherries.

Now, it is mainly produced in the Antioquia department in northwestern central Colombia. If you want to taste one of the rarest coffee beans, they are all single-origin coffee varieties.

Colombian Instant Coffee

Due to its large coffee production, Colombia is a major coffee supplier to the instant coffee market. It is known to produce a very smooth, versatile flavor that makes for excellent instant coffee.

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