What's the Relationship Between Panama Geisha and Flower Queen? What's the Difference Between Arabica Typica and Bourbon?

The Diversity of Coffee Varieties

Just as apples have distinctive varieties like Granny Smith and Red Delicious, coffee has countless varieties of its own. Beyond looks, variety is a major factor in how coffee tastes, which makes it a crucial consideration when buying beans.

FrontStreet Coffee has previously published guides to identifying common varieties by appearance, to help people tell them apart visually. Of course, that method is not very practical in real life — there are hundreds to thousands of coffee varieties, and countless beans share a similar look, so we usually cannot name a variety from appearance alone. Even so, getting acquainted with them is worthwhile. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce some common varieties found in the market to deepen your understanding.

Typica

To this day, many varieties we recognize descend from two main groups within the Arabica species, and Typica is one of those two ancestral varieties. It was the first coffee variety to leave Ethiopia and spread around the world — via Yemen — and it is the archetype of Arabica. The "Arabica image" we see online almost always shows the elongated, round Typica bean. The renowned Blue Mountain coffee uses the Typica variety.

Bourbon/Red Bourbon

Bourbon is the other ancestral variety, spreading worldwide a little later than Typica. Importantly, Bourbon is a natural mutation of Typica. Because Typica is elongated, it presents an oval shape, while Bourbon has shorter ends and is overall shorter and rounder. Side by side, they are easy to tell apart.

Worth noting: after Yellow Bourbon appeared — a hybrid of Bourbon and Yellow Botucatu — Bourbon acquired the alias "Red Bourbon" to distinguish it from Yellow Bourbon.

Whether Bourbon or Typica, both offer excellent coffee flavor but have almost no disease resistance. They easily fall to disease. Combined with high cultivation difficulty and low yields, many regions that once grew them switched to other varieties with better resistance and output after leaf rust outbreaks.

SL28, SL34

In 1930, the British established the Scott Agricultural Laboratories in Kenya to breed new, disease-resistant varieties to replace the old ones, launching more than a decade of research. Eventually the SL series was born. Among them, SL28 and SL34 performed best. "SL" stands for Scott Laboratories, while 28 and 34 are the variety numbers.

At first everyone believed both were Bourbon mutations, since most of the lab's seed sources came from Bourbon Island — the place where Bourbon "made its fortune." But recent testing by WCR (World Coffee Research) found that SL34 is not a Bourbon mutation at all; it is a Typica mutation. That explains why SL28 and SL34 look so different — one relatively round, the other elongated — which makes perfect sense once you think about it.

Caturra, Catuai

Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon. In the early 20th century, a small Bourbon plant was found on a Bourbon plantation in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Testing showed it was a genetic mutation, so this Bourbon mutation was named "Caturra," meaning "small one." Caturra has higher productivity than Bourbon and stronger adaptability, so it does not demand much from the growing environment and is not prone to dying.

Catuai is a hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. Mundo Novo itself is a natural hybrid of Bourbon and Typica, initially named "H-2077." Catuai has high productivity, strong disease resistance, and a suitable flavor profile, and it inherited Caturra's compact appearance and hardiness. Clearly this variety is quite excellent, so its name was later changed from "H-2077" to "Catuai," meaning "very good."

Geisha

By now everyone must be thoroughly familiar with Geisha. Although many types exist on the market (such as Gorilla Geisha and Geisha 1931), the one that made the deepest impression is undoubtedly the "T2722" star that rose to fame in Panama.

Geisha was discovered in Ethiopia's Kaffa forest in 1931, but in the era of dark-roast coffee it had no stage to show its talents. Only after more than 70 years of wandering did it reach the specialty coffee era, which prizes flavor, and so it rose to fame in Panama on the strength of its striking floral and fruity notes. Interestingly, when Geisha was first collected, its name was recorded incorrectly. It should have been written as "Gesha," but an extra "i" was added to make it "Geisha." As it happens, "geisha" is also the English word for a Japanese profession, so Taiwan began calling the variety by that direct translation. This led to an Ethiopian heirloom variety that became popular in 2017 being named "Flower Champion" when it was introduced to China, implying a variety that could surpass Geisha — because "Flower Champion" represents the highest level among geisha.

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If reading about Typica makes you want to taste the original, FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is the place to start. It comes from the historic Clifton Estate, which has been growing and processing coffee since around 1750, on average ground of about 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters) with gentle afternoon mist, ample sunlight, and mineral-rich soil — conditions that give the Typica tree ideal growing and a longer cherry maturation. FrontStreet roasts it medium-deep, so the classic balance comes through: nut, dark chocolate, creamy caramel, and a soft sweetness unfolding in layers.

For brewing, FrontStreet suggests a 15g dose, a 1:15 ratio, an 87-88°C water temperature, and a grind a touch coarser than for light-roast beans, about the texture of white sugar. A Kono dripper brings out the fuller body, and resting the beans 4 to 7 days from the roast date works best. Pour in three stages — 30g for a 30-second bloom, up to 120g, then up to 225g — for a clean, complex, very gentle cup with chocolate sweetness, strong body, and a long fruity finish.