Detailed introduction of the varieties of Arabica beans

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Arabica coffee accounts for 70% of all coffee production, and its excellent flavor and aroma make it the only coffee that can be drunk directly. However, its resistance to dryness, frost, diseases and insect pests is too low, especially the natural enemy of coffee-leaf rust, so all producing countries are committed to variety improvement.

It turned out that all the commercial coffee in the world was small-grain coffee, but it was only at the end of the 19th century that growers began to look for other disease-resistant varieties because of the collapse of a large number of coffee farms caused by leaf rust.

Small-grain coffee is still the most important coffee variety, accounting for about 3% of the world's total coffee production. It is mainly grown in Latin American countries, but also partly in Indonesia and the Pacific islands. The geographical and climatic conditions of Brazil, the largest coffee producer in the world, are very suitable for the growth of small-grain coffee, and the main coffee varieties planted are also small-grain coffee. Brazil's coffee production accounts for more than 1% of the world's total output.

The fruit of small-grain coffee is smaller than that of medium-grain coffee and large-grain coffee. The berries are oval and generally contain two seeds, the so-called "coffee beans". The three early subspecies in the Arabica species (Coffea arabica) series are: blue mountain subspecies (varietal BlueMountain), Tibica subspecies (varietal Typica) and bourbon subspecies (varietal Bourbon).

Jamaican Blue Mountain is an excellent coffee; Tibica, native to Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan, is the most widely cultivated variety of coffee in the Western Hemisphere; and Hawaii's Kona, which has a high yield in Hawaii, is comparable in quality to Blue Mountain coffee, with a price difference of only $1 to $3.

The bourbon subspecies was introduced to America by French immigrants in the 18th century from the island of Island of Bourbon (today's French island of Reunion Island of Reunion, located in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar). It is now widely cultivated in the Western Hemisphere, such as Brazil, and a small amount in Yunnan, China. The caffeine content of Bobang subspecies is 20% to 30% higher than that of Tibica subspecies, but less than most coffee subspecies. At first, the main branch and the trunk grew upward at 45 degrees, and drooped with the fruit load. The lateral branches are denser, the fruit is more, and the yield is higher, but the berries are smaller and mature faster, so they are not resistant to strong wind and heavy rain. Bourbon coffee is a variety of small-grain coffee second only to Tibica, with more fruit, higher yield, but smaller berries and slower ripening. The small-grain coffee grown in Yunnan, China is mainly Tibika and Bobang subspecies. From the botanical point of view of coffee, Yunnan small-grain coffee is genetically close to the best blue mountains of Jamaica (Jamaica Blue Mountain) and Kona of Hawaii.