Pacamara's Male Parent - What is Maragogipe's Origin? What Does Elephant Bean Mean? What Are the Three Major Varieties of the Coffee Genus?

The Coffee Genus and Its Main Species

In the biological classification of the coffee genus, 130 different species have been confirmed to date. The three we encounter most often in the market are Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica. Keep in mind that these three are only umbrella terms — each contains thousands of individual varieties. Based on the average size of their beans, people have also given them nicknames: small-bean Arabica, medium-bean Robusta, and large-bean Liberica.

The Remarkable Exception: Maragogipe

Those nicknames tell you the average bean size within each group. But there are always exceptions. Even the smallest group — small-bean Arabica — has one variety whose beans are so large and plump they surpass the average of the large-beaned Liberica. That variety is the famous "Elephant Bean": Maragogipe.

Discovery and Classification

Maragogipe was first found in 1870 near the town of Maragogipe in eastern Bahia, Brazil, and took its name from the place. Its beans are enormous — roughly three times the size of ordinary Arabica — at one point even out-sizing Liberica. By coincidence, its discovery came at a time when Arabica was being devastated by coffee leaf rust and some farmers were planting Liberica as a substitute, so people initially assumed this giant bean was a Liberica variety.

(Image from the internet) Genetic testing later revealed the truth: Maragogipe is a mutation of Typica within the Arabica species — an Arabica after all. And when the beans were compared side by side, they proved larger than most Liberica beans, hence the tongue-twister of a title for this article. Despite their size, Maragogipe beans lose nothing in flavor: berry sweetness, bright citrus acidity, and a thick, smooth mouthfeel — a reputation fully deserved.

The Challenges of Growing It

The plants themselves are oversized too — trunks and leaves larger than those of ordinary coffee trees — so Maragogipe demands more space, nutrients, and resources than conventional varieties, while yielding fewer cherries. The economics simply don't add up for most growers.

And those visible costs are the smaller part of the problem. The real cost is time: the fruit takes far longer to reach maturity than regular Arabica — a wait most smallholder farmers simply can't afford, and even for those who can, unpredictable weather can wipe out the investment. Given those sunk costs, no smallholder deliberately plants Maragogipe. The ones who do are mostly well-established estates with plenty of land and a high tolerance for risk. Today, Maragogipe cultivation is concentrated in Central and South American countries.

Elephant Bean: Variety or Grade?

Finally, one clarification from FrontStreet Coffee about the "Elephant Bean" name. It refers to beans as big as an elephant — but it isn't only a variety name. Some countries grade beans by screen size, and they have an "Elephant Bean" grade too: any bean above screen 20 can be sold under that designation. So be sure to distinguish between the Elephant Bean variety and the Elephant Bean grade.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Curious to taste what Brazil's terroir can do? FrontStreet Coffee's Semi-Washed Cerrado Red Bourbon is the classic starting point — a Red Bourbon from the celebrated Cerrado region, medium roasted to reveal creamed peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut aromas with a rounded, low-acid body and just a whisper of bitterness. It suits pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, and French press alike.

For something rarer, try FrontStreet Coffee's Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, where fertile red volcanic soil feeds exceptionally aromatic cherries. A natural mutation of Red Bourbon, the Yellow Bourbon offers a cleaner fruit character with a distinctive sugarcane sweetness alongside gentle fruit and chocolate notes — a lovely companion piece to the story of Brazil's remarkable bean varieties.