Arabica Coffee Varieties: Essential Knowledge for Pour-Over Coffee Beginners and Coffee Bean Introduction

Is Arabica a coffee brand from a certain country? Arabica is the name of a coffee variety, and it's a very common one at that.

"Made with 100% Arabica coffee beans" "Select Arabica coffee beans"... When we purchase various coffee products in our daily lives, the packaging always bears the word "Arabica." As a result, many friends have asked FrontStreet Coffee about Arabica coffee beans. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will briefly discuss what Arabica coffee is.

Coffee Varieties

Biologically speaking, coffee varieties can be divided into Arabica (small-grained coffee), Robusta (medium-grained coffee), and Liberica (large-grained coffee). The world's most popular coffee varieties are Arabica and Robusta. Liberica, due to limited production or inconsistent quality, is typically used only for coffee variety research and rarely appears on the market as a standalone product.

(Arabica vs. Robusta comparison)

Generally speaking, Arabica is primarily used in today's popular single-origin/specialty coffees, while Robusta is mostly used for instant coffee. This doesn't necessarily mean that Robusta is inferior to Arabica—it's just reflecting the main uses of these two coffee varieties in the market.

Although Arabica can be defined as premium coffee and Robusta as secondary, this doesn't have to be a strict classification. It's more appropriate to distinguish them based on your preferred taste. Not all Arabica coffee beans are necessarily the best, and not all Robusta are necessarily bad either.

What is Arabica Coffee?

Arabica coffee beans are not just the name of a coffee variety. More precisely, Arabica is a coffee lineage. Through natural mutation/natural hybridization/artificial hybridization, cultivation, and other processes, there are currently hundreds of coffee varieties within the Arabica lineage.

Regardless of the variety, all Arabica lineage coffees originate from the Ethiopia region and currently account for 70-75% of global coffee production. The reason why Arabica coffee is so popular, in FrontStreet Coffee's opinion, is mainly because this lineage offers more pleasing flavor/taste profiles compared to Robusta and Liberica.

Although Arabica lineage coffees have excellent flavor profiles, their weakness lies in the fact that many varieties have weak disease and pest resistance. Therefore, they are suitable for growing in high-altitude areas. Especially when cultivated at altitudes of 1200m, the coffee flavors become richer and more refined. However, this also requires more human and material resources for cultivation and processing to ensure better quality coffee beans, which is why high-altitude Arabica is more expensive than low-altitude Arabica.

What is Specialty Coffee?

Not all Arabica coffee beans are specialty coffee. The concept of specialty coffee was first introduced in English as "Specialty Coffee." If translated as "特色咖啡" (specialty coffee) or "特产咖啡" (local specialty coffee), it refers to coffee beans cultivated with regional flavor characteristics under unique microclimates and geographical conditions in the growing region.

Simply put, specialty coffee allows you to taste flavors that represent regional characteristics. For example, from Ethiopian Arabica coffee beans, we can taste bright acidity, while from Indonesian Arabica coffee beans, we can taste herbal-like richness and body.

Mainstream Coffee Varieties on the Market

With so many branch varieties in the Arabica lineage, which are the mainstream coffee varieties on the market today?

Although there are many branch varieties within the Arabica lineage, only a few are widely used today. These include Ethiopian native variety Heirloom, Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Catimor, Geisha, and SL28 & SL34.

Typica

Typica is one of the world's oldest Arabica coffee varieties. Typica coffee trees have bronze-colored top leaves, and the beans are oval or slender and pointed in shape. The flavor is elegant and balanced, but the plant has weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit yield. Basically, wherever Arabica coffee can be grown, Typica has made its appearance. Many famous coffee beans, such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, and Hawaii Kona, belong to the Typica variety.

FrontStreet Coffee — Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee Beans
Origin: Jamaica Blue Mountain Range
Estate: Clifton Mountain Estate
Altitude: 1310m
Variety: Typica
Processing: Washed
Brewing Flavor: Dark chocolate, nuts, cream, balanced sweet and bitter

Bourbon

Initially discovered in Brazil in 1930, it now mainly grows in Brazil. It's generally believed to be a mutation from the hybridization of red-fruited Bourbon with a yellow-fruited Typica variant called "Amerelo de Botocatu" (discovered in São Paulo state in 1871). Due to its lower yield and poor resistance to wind and rain, it hasn't been widely cultivated. However, when grown in high-altitude areas, it exhibits excellent flavor and distinct sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee - Brazil Queen Estate Coffee Beans
Region: Mogiana region, Brazil
Estate: Queen Estate
Altitude: 1400m - 1950m
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing: Natural
Flavor: Nuts, creamy peanuts, sugarcane, fermented fruits

Caturra

Caturra is a single-gene variant of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. It has better production capacity and disease resistance than Bourbon, and the plant is shorter, making harvesting convenient. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it has the problem of biennial production cycles. However, its flavor is comparable to Bourbon beans, and more importantly, it has super strong adaptability and doesn't require shade trees, so it's also called Sun Coffee. It can adapt to high-density planting but requires more fertilization, which increases cultivation costs.

FrontStreet Coffee - Colombian Huilan Coffee Beans
Region: Huilan region, Colombia
Altitude: 1500m - 1800m
Variety: Caturra
Processing: Washed
Brewing Flavor: Nuts, dark chocolate, caramel, soft fruit acidity

Catuai

Catuai is a hybrid variety cultivated in Brazil in 1950 through artificial hybridization of Caturra and Mundo Novo. Catuai inherited Mundo Novo's attributes of high yield, strong disease resistance, and excellent cup quality, as well as Caturra's attributes of small plant size, high-quality acidity, and being a sun coffee. Due to its smaller plant size, it can be planted at twice the density. Catuai flavor manifests as soft acidity, clean taste, and rich fruit aromatics.

SL28 & SL34

SL28 is one of Africa's famous coffee varieties. SL28 was selected, researched, and cultivated by the former Scott Agricultural Laboratories (now the National Agricultural Laboratory). This variety has good drought resistance, tolerates drought and pests, and is suitable for cultivation in medium to high altitude areas, but is susceptible to common diseases.

SL34 was also selected and cultivated by the former Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the late 1930s. At that time, researchers selected trees with the SL prefix in plantations and studied their yield, quality, drought resistance, and disease resistance.

SL28 and SL34 have similar flavors, but SL34 has richer acidity and a more intense taste. However, both varieties have unique Kenyan characteristics, with rich fruit acidity and balanced taste.

FrontStreet Coffee - Kenya Asalia Coffee Beans
Region: Asalia Processing Station, Thika region, Kenya
Altitude: 1550m - 1750m
Variety: SL28, SL34
Processing: K72 Washed
Flavor Description: Black plum, cherry tomatoes, snow pear, brown sugar, plum

Geisha

Geisha is a genetic variant of Typica, originating from the Geisha forest in Ethiopia. After decades of artificial cultivation, it spread to Panama in the 1960s, where it was discovered and cultivated independently by Hacienda La Esmeralda. It gained fame when it won first place at the BOP in 2004, setting multiple auction price records. It has jasmine-like fragrance, citrus sweetness, rich floral and fruit aromas, and tea-like qualities.

FrontStreet Coffee - Panama La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Coffee Beans
Region: Boquete, Panama, La Esmeralda Estate
Lot: Jaramillo, Mario
Altitude: 1700m
Variety: Geisha
Processing: Natural
Flavor Description: Citrus, complex fruits, rose tea, honey

Ethiopian Heirloom

In Ethiopia, the term "Heirloom" refers to "native coffee varieties." Many small coffee farmers in Ethiopia grow multiple varieties simultaneously in their backyards. Of course, some farmers will select and cultivate the better varieties separately for sale. Since much of the local coffee grows in wild or semi-wild states with large populations, not every farmer carefully distinguishes between varieties.

Therefore, most coffee varieties are mixed in cultivation and mixed in harvest, so many Ethiopian coffee beans are mixed together. Since specialty coffee requires listing the coffee variety, Ethiopia has named these natural mixed varieties "Heirloom." Due to being a multi-variety mix, Ethiopian Heirloom coffee beans appear in various sizes and exhibit bright citrus acidity and green tea-like sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yirgacheffe Gedeb Cooperative Coffee Beans
Region: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
Cooperative: Gedeb Cooperative
Altitude: 2000m - 2100m
Variety: Local Heirloom
Processing: Washed
Flavor: Citrus, black tea, floral notes, cream, caramel, almond

Catimor

In the 1970s and 1980s, coffee leaf rust disease broke out in many Central and South American countries, seriously affecting coffee production. The Portuguese coffee research center CIFC, targeting the coffee leaf rust situation, hybridized Timor (which carries Robusta genes) with Caturra (a Bourbon variant) in 1959 to cultivate the disease-resistant and high-yielding Catimor.

Due to carrying Robusta genes, Catimor's flavor performance is not as excellent as other common Arabica varieties, but it does have plum-like acidity and nutty aroma, while also having low cultivation costs and high yields. In 1952, scientific personnel from the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences distributed 80kg of coffee seeds to farmers in Baoshan's Lujiangba for trial planting, discovering good adaptability and excellent quality, leading to the redevelopment and growth of Yunnan coffee cultivation. By 1988, Nestlé established a new joint venture in China to promote coffee cultivation projects, introducing the high-yielding Catimor variety. This move greatly facilitated large-scale coffee cultivation in Yunnan. Therefore, Catimor is widely cultivated in Yunnan, China.

FrontStreet Coffee - Yunnan Baoshan Catimor Arabica Coffee Beans
Region: Lujiangba, Baoshan, Yunnan, China
Altitude: 1450-1550m
Variety: Catimor
Processing: Red Cherry Natural
Flavor Description: Nuts, chocolate, spices, caramel, red berries, plum

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