Arabica Coffee Bean Family Relationships - Premium Variety Recommendations

If you're familiar with coffee, you probably know that coffee can be broadly divided into two types: Arabica coffee and Robusta coffee. Most of the coffee we encounter in cafés is Arabica coffee. But why is Arabica coffee so favored? What exactly are the differences between Arabica and Robusta coffee?

Arabica's Superior Flavor Profile

As the two most common varieties on the market, Arabica belongs to the small-bean category, while Robusta belongs to the medium-bean category.

Robusta originates from the Congo in Africa and accounts for 30% of the world's coffee production. The name "Robusta" literally means "robust," and indeed, this coffee tree not only has strong resistance to pests and diseases but can also survive in any soil and even grow in wild conditions. Therefore, it can be cultivated in high-temperature regions, grows quickly, and is easy to cultivate, giving it the advantage of low price. It has a strong bitter taste, rich extraction oils, and is mainly used in blend formulas or as the main ingredient for instant coffee.

Arabica is a representative variety originating from Ethiopia and accounts for 70-75% of the world's coffee production. Arabica cultivation requires very stringent conditions and has high soil requirements. Arabica needs to grow at altitudes of 800-2200 meters in frost-free highlands. The higher the altitude, the more significant the temperature difference, which slows down the maturation of coffee cherries and allows for better accumulation of flavor compounds, resulting in more full-bodied aroma development. The microclimates in various coffee-growing regions provide diverse growing conditions for Arabica, forming unique flavor profiles.

Higher Caffeine Content in Robusta

Arabica has lower caffeine content, approximately 0.9% to 1.2%; it contains 60% more fat than Robusta coffee; and its sugar content is twice as high. Therefore, Arabica tastes relatively sweeter, smoother, with a hint of fruity acidity. The bitterness we taste when drinking coffee mainly comes from chlorogenic acid. Compared to Arabica, Robusta has higher levels of caffeine, amino acids, and chlorogenic acid. Therefore, Robusta naturally lacks the ethereal aromatic fragrance unique to Arabica beans, replaced instead by a richer, deeper mouthfeel, with flavors of walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, wheat, grains, and even pungent earthy notes.

Besides being an antioxidant, chlorogenic acid is also an important component for resisting pests, so Robusta grown at low altitudes can avoid most insect damage. To express diverse flavors, Arabica needs to be planted in suitable environments at higher altitudes. The higher the altitude, the more susceptible coffee is to pests and climate effects. Generally planted at higher altitudes, it yields fewer fruits and matures more slowly. High-quality Arabica coffee requires more investment in manual management and harvesting, resulting in higher production costs.

Why Are Arabica Coffee Beans More Popular?

FrontStreet Coffee has also summarized many Arabica varieties, each with its own unique flavor profile, featuring pleasant acidity and aroma. Many of the pour-over single-origin coffees on FrontStreet Coffee's menu belong to the Arabica variety, showing that compared to Robusta, people prefer the pure flavors of Arabica.

Compared to the strong-tasting Robusta beans, Arabica has lower caffeine content and twice the sugar content of Robusta beans, making Arabica coffee taste smoother, with higher sweetness and rich layered acidic aromas. With the continuous promotion of specialty coffee culture, people have increasingly higher requirements for coffee's taste, mouthfeel, and quality. Therefore, only high-quality Arabica beans better meet the current specialty coffee market. However, FrontStreet Coffee must clarify that although Robusta has lower acceptance, there are also high-quality batches. For example, India's "Kaapi Royale" Robusta coffee beans, cultivated with exquisite planting and management, present a rich mouthfeel and clear cleanliness.

Arabica Coffee Recommendations

As a major category, Arabica can be divided into nearly 3,000 varieties, all derived from Ethiopia's oldest native varieties, Typica and Bourbon, which were planted in South America or Asia and later mutated. As an agricultural crop, coffee flavor is always closely related to factors such as variety, climate, altitude, soil, and management, serving as a natural and authentic expression of the variety and local terroir. Here, FrontStreet Coffee has selected several representative varieties to help you understand Arabica better.

Jamaican Typica

The oldest native variety from Ethiopia, discovered between the 15th and 16th centuries. Typica characteristics include taller coffee trees, bronze-colored top leaves, and coffee beans that are larger, longer, and pointed at both ends, somewhat egg-shaped. Typica coffee often has citrus acidity with a sweet aftertaste, praised by many as an elegant and clean coffee bean. Unfortunately, due to its low yield and poor resistance to leaf rust disease, it has gradually been replaced by farmers with other more robust varieties.

Typica was introduced to this country by Sir Nicholas Lawes in the 18th century and soon spread to Blue Mountain for cultivation, with a history of over two hundred years. Jamaica's Blue Mountain Typica has adapted to the local island tropical rainforest climate, evolving stronger disease resistance, particularly against coffee berry disease, which is much stronger than typical Typica. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Blue Mountain's exquisite clean flavor is inseparable from Jamaica's insistence on careful cultivation of Typica varieties, allowing Typica to integrate into the local terroir. Blue Mountain's excellent terroir and unique microclimate also play indispensable roles. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting to maximize the presentation of chocolate and nut aromas while preserving soft acidity and sweetness, making the overall mouthfeel balanced.

Panama Geisha

Friends who often drink pour-over coffee must have heard of Panama's Geisha coffee, which has become one of the synonymous symbols of contemporary specialty coffee due to its stunning aroma. The Geisha variety is derived from Typica and also originates from Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee.

Geisha is very particular about its growing environment, requiring high altitude, fertile soil, cloud cover or plant shade, and cannot be directly exposed to intense sunlight. The owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda mentioned that the farm needs numerous shade trees to protect the delicate Geisha from sunlight, and traditional pruning methods must be used during early cultivation, otherwise the plants easily die. Geisha planted at higher altitudes has longer maturation periods for coffee cherries, with more complex and unique flavor expressions. Unlike other coffee varieties, Geisha coffee trees have very thin leaf systems, meaning photosynthesis efficiency is very low. The root systems are also fragile, with slow absorption of water and nutrients, resulting in very low coffee yields. Combined with the high-altitude growing environment, fruit maturation is also relatively late.

Currently, Geisha is grown in many regions worldwide and is the new king of specialty coffee, with higher quality in Latin American countries such as Panama, Guatemala, and Colombia. Panama Geisha, in particular, stands out among specialty coffees. When discussing Geisha coffee, the most popular on FrontStreet Coffee's menu is undoubtedly the renowned Geisha coffee produced by Hacienda La Esmeralda, which is divided into Red Label Geisha, Green Label Geisha, and Volcanic Geisha based on different characteristics. High-quality FrontStreet Coffee Esmeralda Geisha has prominent rose floral aromas, citrus, berries, and honey fragrances, loved by many coffee enthusiasts.

Brazilian Red Bourbon

Bourbon originated from a natural mutation of Typica, with the bean shape changing from slender and pointed to round. It was first discovered on Bourbon Island (now Réunion) on the east coast of Africa. In 1715, France transplanted round-shaped beans from Mocha, Yemen, to Bourbon Island on the east coast of Africa (renamed Réunion after the French Revolution), and it was named Bourbon. The round-shaped Bourbon beans were introduced to Brazil for cultivation in 1727.

Although the yield isn't high, compared to the weak Typica variety, Bourbon has better resistance to leaf rust disease. Bourbon coffee grown at high altitudes has rich, delicate flavors and strong, fragrant aromas, with soft acidity. Generally, the Bourbon cherries we see change from green to light yellow, orange-yellow, red, and finally to fully ripe dark red, which is what we refer to as Red Bourbon.

Most Brazilian coffee has lower acidity, combined with rich coffee aromas, making it extremely smooth on the palate with a refreshing aftertaste. FrontStreet Coffee has selected a pulped natural Red Bourbon coffee as Brazil's representative, featuring prominent nut and chocolate flavors, medium caramel sweetness, and a smooth, balanced overall mouthfeel. FrontStreet Coffee includes it in the daily bean series. FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans serve as ambassadors for each major producing region, presenting the region's fundamental flavors. Coffee beginners can understand the basic flavors of each region and then choose to explore different regional types according to their preferences.

Colombian Caturra

Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. The tree form is relatively small with moderate disease resistance, but due to its ability to be densely planted with higher fruit-bearing rates, it yields more than varieties like Bourbon and is widely planted in Central American countries. In terms of flavor, Caturra has bright acidity, with a mouthfeel full of fruit flavors. After medium-dark roasting, it presents chocolate and nut sweetness, making it a frequent champion in many coffee competitions.

Many coffees on FrontStreet Coffee's menu contain the Caturra variety. If you want to understand the flavor characteristics of this variety, FrontStreet Coffee recommends Colombian daily beans, which are selected from washed Caturra varieties with extremely high cleanliness. FrontStreet Coffee aims to highlight classic Colombian coffee flavors, using medium-dark roasting to present aromas of nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel.

Ethiopian Heirloom Varieties

Friends who often drink Ethiopian coffee may have noticed that Ethiopian coffee varieties are always listed as local heirloom or Heirloom varieties. In the dictionary, "Heirloom" refers to "valuable property passed down through generations," meaning that for Ethiopians, coffee is an irreplaceable "treasure."

This is because in Ethiopia's original forests, there are numerous coffee varieties with countless genetic types, making identification extremely difficult. Additionally, the local government hopes to protect these varieties by not disclosing them publicly, so they use "Heirloom" as a collective term for these coffee categories. Yirgacheffe coffee varieties are local heirlooms, with small, uneven-sized beans that are relatively round, mostly between 14-15 screen sizes. Many of FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian coffees belong to heirloom varieties, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gudina Cooperative, FrontStreet Coffee's Red Cherry, and FrontStreet Coffee's Buku Abel, which often exhibit elegant floral and fruit flavors in cupping sessions.

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