How Are Coffee Beans Named? An Introduction to Specialty Coffee Bean Naming Rules

Many first-time visitors to FrontStreet Coffee, when faced with the densely packed list of nearly fifty coffee bean varieties on the small blackboard, often experience decision paralysis. There are also customers who don't drink coffee frequently who ask FrontStreet Coffee: "These are beans, right? But aren't Bahia and Mozart musicians?" So today, FrontStreet Coffee will explain to everyone the story behind how coffee beans get their names.

Traditional Naming Methods

In the early days before the concept of specialty coffee emerged, coffee beans didn't emphasize detailed traceability information. Instead, they were simply and directly named after their production regions and then sold in large quantities to consumer areas. For example, Colombian coffee named after the country, Indonesian Java coffee named after the growing region, Mocha coffee named after the shipping port, and Blue Mountain coffee named after the mountain range.

"Blue Mountain Coffee Raw Bean Wooden Barrel"

Evolution of Traceability and Estate Naming

This production and sales model changed with the continuous expansion of the coffee consumer market. After entering the new era of specialty coffee, unique "regional flavors" were discovered, and the traceability information of coffee beans began to receive attention from both industry professionals and consumers. The Yirgacheffe region is one of the best examples, further subdividing into specific villages and processing stations, such as the Koke and Konga cooperatives in Yirgacheffe.

As attention to coffee-growing origins continued to rise, many businessmen invested in this part of the supply chain, establishing their own coffee estates. Estate owners became responsible for everything from production and sales to materials, thus promoting their coffee beans using their own estate names, which is how these names came about. Examples include Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda and Elida Estate.

Competition-Based Naming

To promote the improvement of local coffee bean quality and increase growers' enthusiasm for cultivation, coffee-producing countries often hold raw coffee bean competitions, ranking and awarding high-quality coffee beans based on objective evaluation standards. Therefore, many coffee beans are named after their competition rankings. Common major green bean competitions include Panama's BOP (Best of Panama), the Americas' COE (Cup of Excellence), and Africa's TOH (Taste of Harvest). For example, the TOH that FrontStreet Coffee previously stocked was the washed category champion from the 2020 TOH green bean competition.

Barista Competition Influence

In addition to green bean competitions, the more spectator-friendly barista professional competition beans also become subjects of attention. To find unique coffee flavors, competing baristas collaborate with different coffee estates and bring them to the competition stage. Through different brewing methods and characteristic presentation styles, people can more intuitively understand a particular coffee bean, and the beans selected by winners become known to more people.

For example, "Hua Guai" (Flower Champion): In 2017, Li Jianfei, the runner-up in the China region of the World Coffee Brewers Championship, used that year's TOH natural category champion Hambela coffee beans to defeat the then "invincible champion" Geisha. As coffee beans are an agricultural product, annual climate changes also affect flavor expression. Therefore, the green bean supplier DW company continued to use the "Hua Guai" name for natural processed beans from the Buku Abel processing station, gradually naming them the Hua Guai X.0 series year by year. It's worth noting that the name "Hua Guai" is mainly popular in China; if you want to try this bean from international roasters, you still need to search for the Buku Abel processing station.

Variety and Project-Based Naming

Some coffee beans are named after their varieties to emphasize their uniqueness. For example, the familiar Geisha, as well as the increasingly popular Sidra in recent years. There are also beans named after specific actions or project outputs, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry, which is a natural processed batch from Ethiopia's Red Cherry Project.

Unique and Misunderstood Origins

In addition to these naming conventions, there are also cases like Indonesia's Mandheling coffee, which is neither a place name nor a variety but originated from a misunderstanding. Due to the numerous varieties, different Mandheling coffees are named with their origin, green bean characteristics, or brand, such as PWN company's Golden Mandheling, Aged Mandheling, etc.

Processing Method and Grade-Based Naming

When coffee beans develop unique, concrete flavors through special processing methods, merchants often give them evocative names. For example, Honduras Sherry Cask coffee fermented in whiskey barrels, or Dorothy coffee with rich white peach oolong aroma.

Certain high-quality, rare coffee beans will have their processing method or the country's rating added to their name, such as Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1, Kenya Washed AA grade coffee. Producer-initiated brand grading naming methods have also become common today, with Geisha coffee from Hacienda La Esmeralda being divided into multiple levels including Competition, Red Label, and Green Label.

Answering the Original Question

Returning to the original customer's question, "Bahia" and "Mozart" coffee beans are two varieties from Costa Rica's Carnet Estate's Musician Series, which also includes "Beethoven" and "Chopin" varieties.

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FrontStreet Coffee

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