What kinds of coffee trees are there? Unveil the mystery of coffee! (1)

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

Do you often see the variety of coffee beans marked on the menu or package when buying a cup of coffee or a bag of ripe beans? You must have seen these words Typica, Bourbon, Maragogype, Geisha, SL28, SL34 and other content tags, and these are just a few of them.

Through the research and integration of botanists, this paper analyzes the relationship between coffee tree species. In fact, just like our human families, we usually have a genealogy, and coffee trees have the same relationship. In retrospect, when I was in biology class, I couldn't help yawning. Now engaged in coffee work, re-contact with this kind of learning, understand coffee in the process no longer want to sleep, but often exclaim, it is really too interesting.

Thanks to the combination of interest and work, the learning process of the editor is no longer boring, but it makes this class of coffee botany not boring at all. Next, let's go to the botany of this coffee class with the editor.

What is the classification of the coffee family in the plant kingdom?

In fact, the coffee we drink is only a small part of the family. In the classification of the plant kingdom, it belongs to:

Realm: Plantae of the plant kingdom

Phylum: angiosperm phylum Angiosperms

Class: dicotyledonous class Asteridae

Item: Gentianales of Gentiana

Family: Rubiaceae of Rubiaceae

Subfamily: Ixoroideae

Family: coffee family Coffeeae

Genus: coffee genus Coffea

The above is the scientific classification of coffee in the plant kingdom, and then let's take a look at the common varieties of coffee.

What are the common coffee trees?

There are at least several thousand species in the genus Coffee, and only more than 60 species have been found, while about 25 species are artificially cultivated for making coffee, of which only 4 species are used as commercial coffee.

Small fruit coffee

Small fruit coffee (scientific name: Coffea arabica), also known as Arabica coffee, is the most traditional coffee variety, accounting for about 6070% of the global output.

Originally from East Africa, coffee was monopolized by the Arab world for a long time before the 15th century, so it was also called "Arabian coffee" in Europe.

Medium fruit coffee

Medium fruit coffee (scientific name: Coffea canephora), also known as Canifra Coffee, also known as Robusta Coffee, is the second largest variety of commercially produced coffee in the world.

Suitable for growing in low-altitude tropical climate, because the entrance has a bitter and rubber taste, so most of it is used to produce instant coffee.

Big fruit coffee

Daguo coffee (scientific name: Coffea liberica), also known as Leiberia, is a highly adaptable variety to the environment, but its coffee flavor is not as good as Arabica, so it is not popular in the market.

At present, there are only domestic transactions in Libya, Ivory Coast and other West African countries, and it is very difficult to find any sign of the Liberian species in the world.

High yield coffee

High-yielding coffee (scientific name: Coffea dewevrei), a variety with high drought resistance, was only discovered in 1904 and is rarely used in commercial coffee because it is not widely cultivated.

Two varieties characteristics of Commercial Coffee

Characteristics of small fruit coffee

Arabica arabica

The bean body is oval and curved in the middle line.

A wide range of distribution

The bitter taste is mild.

The aroma is strong

The flavor is more delicate.

The astringent taste is light.

Caffeine content is 0.8-1.5%.

Account for 55% of the global output.

Characteristics of medium fruit coffee

Robusta robusta

Bean body round

The center line is straight.

The plant is relatively strong.

It has a bitter taste.

The taste is mellow.

Caffeine content 1.7% to 3.5%

Accounts for 40% of the global output.

A comparison between Arabica and Robusta

According to the above data, it can be found that Arabica species has high economic value and meticulous flavor, and is the largest yield variety in the world.

What is the difference in the names of the varieties we often see?

It is often seen that Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Kent, SL28 and so on, all belong to the Arabica species family. What is the relationship between them?

Some varieties are derived varieties with different expenditures due to the influence of planting environment and climate, while others are artificial breeding produced by farmers or botanists for the sake of coffee production and disease resistance.

Of course, whether it is derived species or artificial breeding, there is a unique flavor of this variety, in fact, there is no difference between good and bad.

END