What is the Relationship and Difference Between Typica Coffee Beans and Arabica Coffee Beans? Origin, Characteristics, and Flavor Profile of Arabica Coffee Beans

Typica coffee beans are a variety within the Arabica coffee species. The first coffee variety discovered by humans was Arabica. To be specific: Typica coffee beans are Arabica coffee beans, but not all Arabica coffee beans are Typica coffee beans.

When classified biologically, coffee varieties are divided into three main species: Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. The first coffee variety discovered by humans was Arabica. Arabica coffee accounts for 70-80% of the world's economically cultivated coffee production. It offers various excellent flavor profiles and diverse high-quality acidity, with low bitterness and high sweetness, but yields relatively low production.

The Typica variety is currently recognized as the prototype of all Arabica coffee variants. It can be traced back to the birthplace of Arabica coffee in southwestern Ethiopia and is one of the most important varieties among Arabica coffees.

What are the characteristics of the Typica variety?

The most distinctive characteristic of Typica coffee trees is that their top leaves display a reddish-bronze color, which is why they are also called "Red Top Coffee." Their trunks are slender, with very thin branches that are slightly inclined. The lateral branches form a 50-70° angle with the vertical stem, and the plants can reach heights of about 5 meters, making manual harvesting somewhat challenging.

Right outside the FrontStreet Coffee shop, there happens to be a pot of Typica variety and a pot of Catimor variety growing. While enjoying your coffee, you might want to take a closer look. Typica coffee beans are relatively large, elongated, with pointed tips that curve slightly upward, somewhat resembling eggs. Typica coffee beans often have citrusy acidity with a sweet aftertaste, praised by many as elegant and bright coffee beans. Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is a Typica variety.

Due to its very poor disease resistance, Typica struggles to resist common diseases like leaf rust and berry disease... and so on. Its yield is also extremely scarce. Coffee trees infected with leaf rust are essentially suffering from an incurable disease, eventually withering and even dying. As an economic crop, the Typica variety—with its low yield and susceptibility to diseases—makes it difficult to achieve profitability, leading many growers to abandon it in favor of varieties with better disease resistance. Growing Typica coffee beans with elegant and pure flavors is no simple task. Every step—from natural terroir conditions and plant management to fruit harvesting and post-processing—must be carefully managed to develop positive flavors and mouthfeel. This means producing high-quality Typica requires more investment in labor costs and cultivation expertise.

The Spread History of Typica Coffee

A batch of wild Arabica coffee trees collected in southern Ethiopia were brought to Yemen between the 15th and 16th centuries. Then, in 1700, seeds from these coffee trees were taken to the Malabar Coast of India and West Java in Indonesia, where they were named "Typica." In 1760, Typica seeds were sent from Java to the botanical garden in the Netherlands. In 1722, they were brought to the South American colony of Suriname, and later in 1727, they were delivered to northern Brazil.

By the late 1800s, Typica coffee cultivation could be found throughout Central America, South America, and Jamaica in the Caribbean. Later, Typica from Central America also spread to Africa, Asia, and then to the Americas.

As an agricultural crop, the Typica variety modifies its genes according to the terroir and climate of each region it reaches, allowing it to better adapt to local environments. Therefore, Typica coffee from different regions may have variations in flavor, but in terms of mouthfeel, it is the cleanest among all Arabica varieties.

What are the flavor characteristics of Typica coffee from different regions?

Currently, island climate regions such as Papua New Guinea, Jamaica, and Hawaii Kona primarily grow the Typica variety. China's Yunnan province and Ethiopia have small-scale cultivation of Typica coffee varieties.

Among the Typica coffee beans currently sourced by FrontStreet Coffee are the Bird of Paradise from Papua New Guinea, Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1, Kilimanjaro from Tanzania, and Yunnan Typica small-bean coffee grown by FrontStreet Coffee itself.

Among the Typica coffee beans from these three regions, Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 best exemplifies the clean, subtle nature of Typica with its balanced, rich mouthfeel. After medium-dark roasting by FrontStreet Coffee, Blue Mountain No. 1 exhibits rich dark chocolate aroma, subtle citrus acidity, and caramel sweetness—a coffee bean with balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, featuring a solid, rich mouthfeel.

Similarly, the Bird of Paradise, grown in island climate terroir, is known as the "Little Blue Mountain," which is why FrontStreet Coffee also uses medium-dark roasting. Although it's also a coffee bean with balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, and with the same roast level, the Bird of Paradise is not as rich as Blue Mountain No. 1, but it is exceptionally pleasant to drink.

The Typica coffee grown by FrontStreet Coffee itself in Lincang, Yunnan, at an altitude of 1300m, exhibits much cleaner mouthfeel and flavor compared to other Catimor small-bean coffees from Yunnan regions. This is thanks to the inherent clean and subtle characteristics of the Typica variety.

Brewing and Preparation

Regarding roasting, FrontStreet Coffee believes that Yunnan coffee should have both rich coffee aroma and a certain level of acidity, so FrontStreet Coffee uses a medium roast level. For daily in-store brewing, FrontStreet Coffee uses pour-over extraction to present the coffee's natural aroma for customers to appreciate.

Pour-over black coffee is not only the daily extraction method used by FrontStreet Coffee baristas but also a simple method that many coffee enthusiasts can perform at home. Considering that Yunnan Typica coffee tends toward a balanced mouthfeel—meaning it shouldn't have excessive acidity or heavy bitterness—FrontStreet Coffee prefers using a V60 dripper with medium-fine grind size and medium water temperature for extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee uses corresponding parameters when brewing different coffee beans. For darker roasted beans like Mandheling and Brazilian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses water temperature of 87-88°C with medium-coarse grind. For lighter roasted beans such as Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Panama Geisha coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses higher temperatures of 91-93°C with medium-fine grind to highlight the aroma of high-altitude hard beans. Returning to the brewing of FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan small-bean coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium water temperature and grind to emphasize balance and harmony in mouthfeel.

Brewing Parameters:

• Dripper: Hario V60
• Coffee dose: 15g
• Water temperature: 90°C
• Grind size: 75% pass-through rate through #20 sieve
• Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15

Three-stage pour: Wet the coffee bed with twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds to form a dome and bloom for 30 seconds. Then, using a small water stream, pour in circles from inside to outside until reaching 125g, then pause. When the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, continue with the same fine water stream for the third pour until reaching 225g. Remove the dripper once all coffee liquid has filtered through, with a total time of approximately 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yunnan Typica coffee uses traditional natural processing and medium roasting. After brewing, it exhibits plum-like acidity, nutty aroma, brown sugar-like caramel sweetness, and a black tea-like aftertaste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473