What kind of coffee beans does Arabica coffee refer to? how to tell how many Arabica coffee beans are?

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"Coffee variety" information in the early days is not easy to coffee users notice, often engaged in roasters or players will be slightly concerned, but not too deep, persistent, because the former is concerned about the price and sales channels, the latter focus on the improvement of roasting skills. The problem of coffee varieties is most likely to be taken seriously by agricultural scholars, botanists, coffee farmers and coffee lovers who prefer specialty coffee. With the improvement of fine coffee culture in recent years, the number of home roasters is increasing day by day. Coffee trade is no longer just a business that can be played by large marketers. Gradually, small groups raise funds to buy raw beans directly from the producing areas or join international green bean bidding activities. Coffee varieties are gradually attracting the attention of buyers.

This article is based on Willem Boot in Roast Magazine(May)| June 2006-Variety Is the Spice of Coffee. Because Willem Boot itself is a roaster, at the same time, is also a fine coffee lover, after the idea of buying land to grow coffee (I guess it should be funded by local coffee farmers), actually went to Panama to inspect, found Panama regardless of temperature, rainfall, altitude, soil and other conditions are also very suitable for growing coffee, therefore, Willem Boot first to face the problem is no longer "Should I come here to invest to buy land?", "What kind of coffee should I grow?" Because it takes at least three years for coffee trees to mature from seedling to harvest, any decision made now will affect the next three to five years, or even ten years, and you have to think seriously.

Coffee belongs to the evergreen shrub of the genus Coffea of Rubiaceae, and there are about forty kinds of plants under the branch of Coffea, of which only three kinds of coffee have commercial value-Coffea Arabica, Coffea robusta [Note 1] and Coffea Liberica [Note 1]. These three varieties are called the "three original species of coffee". Arabica coffee species account for about 70~80% of the world's total production, and fine coffee is in large demand; Robusta species account for 20~30%, mainly used for instant and canned coffee, and the caffeine content is twice that of Arabica species; Liberia species are only traded in Suriname, Libya, Ivory Coast and other countries in West Africa due to their intolerance to leaf rust and poor flavor, and are not popular all over the world.

Coffee is subject to many challenges during its growth process, such as moisture, frost, pests, etc. Among them, leaf rust is the most harmful. All things in nature evolve under natural selection, so does coffee tree. Therefore, the "Tibica species" and "Bourbon species" mentioned in this article belong to the "species" of the "kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species" of biological taxonomy, and can be divided into "subspecies","variety" and "variety" in descending order. Among them, there are mutant varieties that belong to natural evolution, and some are deliberately bred for special needs. The Arabica species commonly seen in the market are only very rough terms. The actual varieties are not subdivided, only that their upstream ancestors are Arabica species.

The following are the varieties that evolved from Arabica coffee

[Typica] Typica species

closest to the original species. The bean is slightly longer, like an elongated egg, and is called Arabigo or criollo in Central America. It has a clean lemon sour taste, sweet aftertaste, low resistance to leaf rust, making it difficult to care, low seed set of trees, and a long harvest period (harvest once every 2 years), resulting in low yield.

Bourbon

The subspecies mutated from Typica, together with Typica, are currently the closest varieties to the original species. Found at Reunion(formerly Bourbon) on Madagascar. Some coffee experts think Bourbon is just a natural variant of Typica, nothing special! But in fact, Bourbon has its own characteristics, and Typica also has a high-quality taste, like red wine sour, sweet aftertaste, can be distinguished from the coffee tree leaves and bean appearance, Bourbon leaves are relatively wide, firm coffee cherries are relatively small, relatively dense, so the bean appearance for Typica is relatively small, relatively round. In Kenya and Tanzania, artificial hybrid breeding using Bourbon progeny resulted in new artificial varieties "SL28" and "SL34", which are known for their excellent flavor performance. Bourbon has a higher seed yield than Typica, but the harvest period is also 2 years, which is also a variety with less yield.

Caturra species

A mutant of Bourbon. It was first discovered in Brazil and commercially cultivated in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1937. Caturra has a sour taste of lemon or citrus, and is not as sweet as Typica and Bourbon, because the sweetness of Caturra depends on the number and dosage of fertilizer applied by the grower. It has high productivity, but it must be continuously fertilized and pruned to maintain productivity, so the tree is short and branched. Although production capacity has increased, production is still limited due to the 2-year harvest period and high maintenance costs.

[Mundo Novo] Mundo Novo

Typica mixed with Bourbon. The trees are more than three meters tall, making harvesting difficult. It lacks sweetness on the palate and has bitter aftertaste. Advantages are insect disease tolerance, high productivity, but high yield varieties.

Catuai

Caturra and Mundo novo cross species, Caturra tree short and Mundo novo tree tall, after mixing improved height is easier to harvest. Taste soso, sweetness performance similar to Cattura, fertilization technology has a great correlation. High planting density, proper fertilization can have high productivity, tree resistance, resistance to wind and rain damage, short harvest period as long as 1 year, but the disadvantage is short life, only 10 years.

Maragogype

Typica variant. Found in Brazil at a place called Maragogype, beans are extremely large, hence the name elephant beans. It tastes mild and slightly sour, and it is not easy to bake. Light baking is recommended, because deep baking will not show the characteristics. Production is low.

Pacamara

Maragogype is interbred with Pacas and is considered a cousin of Maragogype.

Pacas

Caturra is interbred with Bourbon.

[Catimor] Catimo

Time is interbred with Caturra. It was discovered in Portugal in 1959. The taste is obvious and easy to distinguish, bitter acid with a little astringency, and the aftertaste is often salty. High planting density and resistance to leaf rust make it a high-yield variety. In the past, Catimor was grown extensively in Latin America on the advice of agricultural experts, who proved their advice wrong over a decade because coffee farmers could not sell their beans at the right price.

[Geisha] Geisha species

Geisha is Panama's unique Arabica coffee species. In recent years, it has shined in fine coffee. In just a few years, it has been called "Queen of Fine Coffee". It can be regarded as the treasure of Panama coffee. At present, the output is low and the price is high. Coffee farmers claim to have discovered it in recent years, but this is not the case. Geisha not only appeared in Panama as early as 1960, but many cultivation units in Panama also have many Geisha seeds. Willem Boot predicts a massive increase in Panamanian Geisha coffee in five years, and suggests roasters don't rush. It was discovered in 1931 in southwest Ethiopia, where it is known by many different names, such as Gesha. In 1931 and 1932, it was imported into Kenya under the names Abyssinian and Geisha respectively. In 1936, Kenya sent its harvest of Geisha seeds to Uganda and Tanzania for planting. In July 1953 Tanzania sent the progeny to Costa Rica, leaving the mother plant in its own country. In 1960, Geisha was officially cultivated through CATIE Panama. Geisha has a nice aroma, sweet and clean finish, character, fruity taste, with bright fruit acidity, such as tamarind, mango, papaya, very soft taste, characteristics can be compared with Ethiopian washed beans.