The species of coffee trees planted with coffee beans.

The coffee beans we usually see are red fruits on trees, seeds without peel and pulp.

It is a kind of plant, so there will naturally be different tree species, just as there are many kinds of apples.

There are two main categories visible in the market: Arabica and Robusta (rough flavor, caffeine more than twice as high as Arabica, not a boutique coffee variety. However, in recent years, India and some African countries have launched boutique water-washed Robbosa beans, which is expected to enter the boutique coffee market.

So, what we're talking about now is the tree species of coffee. Is it important?

That's right. It's important. Why is that?

Because different tree species adapt to different growth environment, grow coffee beans with different shapes and flavors. DR ILLY said: 70% of the taste of coffee is determined by the tree species and 30% by the growing environment.

OK, let's talk about what kind of coffee trees there are (a little long).

Typica: the oldest native variety in Ethiopia, all Arabica are derived from Tibika. It belongs to the ancient coffee with elegant flavor, but its physique is weak, its disease resistance is poor and it is easy to catch rust leaf disease, and its fruit yield is also low, which is not in line with economic benefits. In recent years, Tibika has been gradually replaced by Kaddura and Kaduai in Central and South America, which is becoming more and more rare. Although Tibica has a good flavor, it is not nearly as popular as bourbon. One of the features is that Tibika's parietal leaves are bronzed. Mantenin, Blue Mountain, Elephant Bean, Kona, Yunnan Xiaodou, Rosa, and so on, are all derived varieties of Tibika. Tibica's beans are larger, pointed, oval or thin, different from Bourbon's round beans.

Bourbon: juxtaposed with Tibica as an ancient and excellent variety. Some botanists even believe that Bourbon is a variant of the early Tibika transplanted to Yemen, where the bean shape changed from a thin tip to a round body. It was not until 1715 that France transplanted Mocha round beans from Yemen to the island of Bourbon on the east coast of Africa, and it was not until 1715 that it received the name round bourbon. Bourbon, which spread to Brazil and Central and South America in 1727, is also round beans. In addition, the British transplant of Yemeni mocha to St. Helena Island in 1732 was also a round bean. interestingly, it did not pass through Bourbon Island, but it was named Green Top Bourbon. It can be seen that the industry thinks that all the world's bourbon beans come from Bourbon Island is a big misunderstanding. It is important to recognize that there are many round bourbon beans that spread directly from Yemen without passing through the island of bourbon. In 181○, some of the round beans on Bourbon Island mutated into pointed beans, also known as the "pointed body of bourbon." its caffeine content was only half that of ordinary coffee, and its output was low, weak, and extremely rare.

With the exception of Ethiopia, the origin of Arabica, the mutants or mixed-race varieties cultivated or found in Central and South America, India and East Africa are mainly Tibica and bourbon, and the genetic complexity is far lower than that of Ethiopia. this is the main reason for the weak physique and poor disease resistance of Arabica outside Ethiopia.

In addition, the biggest thing that bourbon and Tibica have in common is that shade trees must be "protected" to help block the sun. These two ancient varieties, such as unshaded trees, will not be conducive to growth and flavor development.

Gene mutant:

Kenya [SL28] and [SL34] (Bourbon):

A bourbon line screened and cultivated by French and British missionaries and researchers in Kenya at the beginning of the 20th century. Over the past hundred years, it has adapted to the high concentration of phosphate soil in Kenya, giving birth to the special sour and fragrant spirit of Kenyan beans, which is different from bourbon beans in Central and South America. The top Kenyan coffee comes from these two excellent strains, but the transplant to Asia has lost its flavor and does not show the characteristics of Kenyan beans.

Geisha: a variety of late blossoms. In 1931, he was exported to Kenya in obscurity from Geisha Mountain Mountain in southwestern Ethiopia (coincidentally synonymous with Japanese geisha). He traveled to Tanzania and Costa Rica, and was transplanted to Panama in the six ○ years. It took him nearly half a century to make a splash, defeating the victorious armies such as Bourbon, Kaddura, Kaduai, Tibica and so on. Won the first prize of two ○○ five, two ○○ six and two ○○ seven Panamanian national treasure bean cup test competition in one breath. In the seventh year of ○○, the International famous Bean Cup Test sponsored by the American Fine Coffee Association won the championship again, and the bidding price was even sold at US $130 per pound, setting an all-time record for the price of competition beans. It is reported that the next Panamanian national treasure bean competition will be divided into two groups: rose summer and non-rose summer, so as not to be robbed of the brilliance of other varieties by rose summer. Rosa is a member of the Tibika family, but it became famous more than 70 years after leaving Ethiopia, and fulfilled the saying that Ethiopia is a treasure trove of Arabica genes. Giving a variety to go abroad is enough to stir up trouble in the coffee market.

Yellow bourbon (Bourbon Amarello): the English name can also be written as [Yellow bourbon]. It is suitable for both shallow and deep baking. It is a bourbon variety of yellow skin peculiar to the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Generally speaking, the coffee fruit will turn red when it is ripe, but the bourbon will not turn red when it is ripe, so it gets its name from orange. Huang Boben swept the Brazilian [COE] competition in the past two years, and almost all of the top three prizes were won by Huang Boben. Deep-Fried Chicken, who has become the boutique coffee industry, is also the formula bean of the boutique Espresso. The scientific names of Arabica yellow pericarp varieties are all crowned with [Amarello], including yellow Kaddura, yellow Kaduai and so on.

Kaddura (Caturra): a single-gene variant of bourbon, discovered in Brazil in the ○'s. The production capacity and disease resistance are better than bourbon, but the trees are shorter and easy to harvest, but like bourbon, they all have periodic problems of production capacity fluctuation every two years. Flavor and bourbon beans are comparable or slightly worse, more important is super adaptability, do not need shade trees, direct exposure to the sun can also be vibrant, commonly known as exposed coffee (Sun Coffee) can adapt to high-density planting, but must apply more fertilizer, increase the cost, so the acceptance of coffee farmers is not high in the initial stage. But soybean prices soared in the 1970s, and farmers switched to Kaddura to increase production, which was vigorously promoted by the Brazilian and Colombian authorities and yielded fruitful results. The acceptance of Kaddura by farmers means a great change in planting technology. Brazil and Colombia switched to high-yield, high-density sun-exposed planting. by 1999 ○, 14 million bags of coffee beans could be harvested on 1 million hectares, increasing production capacity by 60%. No wonder Kaddura, with high production capacity and high quality, has become a variety relied on by various producing countries. Kaddura is most suitable for planting in high altitude areas ranging from 700m to 1700 m, with strong adaptability to altitude. However, the higher the altitude, the better the flavor, and the production capacity is relatively reduced, which is the fate of high-quality beans. In academic circles, some people call Kaddura a dense and exposed version of bourbon, which can be said to hit the nail on the head. There is also a variety of yellow Kaddura (Caturra Amarello) in Central and South America, but the wind review is not as good as Huang Boben.

Pacas (Pacas): a variety of bourbon found in El Salvador. In 1935, Salvadoran coffee farmer Pacas selected high-capacity varieties of San Ramon bourbon (San Ramon bourbon) to be planted on farms. In 1956, a friend found that the amount of bourbon in his farm was higher than that of the same kind of coffee tree, so he asked a professor at the University of Florida to identify it, confirmed that there was a genetic mutation in bourbon, and named the new variety after the farm's evaluation, "Pacas." Because of its high yield and good quality, Pacas is very popular in Central America and plays the role of a "stallion" of an improved breed. In El Salvador, 68 per cent are bourbon, 29 per cent are Pacas and the other 3 per cent are just Kaduai, Kaddura and the noble Pacamara.

Vera Saatchi (Villa Sarchi): the bourbon variant, which was first discovered in Costa Rica in the six ○'s, has often appeared on the list of winners in competitions in recent years.

Elephant beans (Maragogype): beans are at least three times larger than the average Arabica, making it the largest in the world, hence the name. Elephant beans, the most well-known variety of beans in Tibica, were first discovered in the Maragogype region of Bahia in northeastern Brazil in ○ in 187. The high-quality bean industry is often called the birthplace of Malago Gibbs, commonly known as elephant beans. Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Dominica have a small number of plants. Elephant beans are very suitable for the low altitude area of 700m to 800m, but the flavor is dull, undistinctive, and even has a fishy smell. It is appropriate to choose a slightly higher altitude above 1000 meters, with a better flavor, mild sour taste and sweet fragrance.

Although the size of elephant beans is large, they are soft beans. Most people have a bad impression of it, but in fact, the elephant beans at higher elevations have a special flavor and soft fragrance (because the fruit at high altitude is less fruiting and nutrients are more concentrated), but the production capacity is very low and the economic benefits are not enough. in addition, the large fruit is not easy to wash or semi-washed, so the farmers are not willing to plant high-yielding Kaddura or Kaduai one after another. When baking elephant beans, due to the large and low density of the beans, it is appropriate to use low heat if they are baked in a traditional semi-direct fire style; if they are baked in hot air, they must be baked in a small amount, lest the hot air can not blow the elephant beans, unable to tumble and appear black focus.

Arabica intraspecific hybridization (Intraspecific Hybrid)

New World (Mundo Novo): a natural hybrid of Bourbon of Arabica and Tibica of Sumatra, first found in Brazil. High yield, resistance to diseases and insect pests, cup test quality is also good, known as the new hope of the Brazilian coffee industry, named New World. Although he has not made it into the top three [COE] of Brazil, he has appeared in the top 20 many times. Brazil was planted wildly after 1950 ○. The biggest disadvantage is that the height of trees is often more than 3 meters, so it is not easy to harvest.

Catuai: it is also a hybrid variety of Arabica, a hybrid of New World and Kaddura, which helps inherit the advantage of Kaddura's low stature and change the shortcomings of the New World; the other advantage is solid results, and it is not easy to fall off in case of strong wind, which makes up for the weakness of Arabica fruit without wind, but it is the biggest pity that the overall flavor performance is more monotonous than Kaddura. Kaduai also has the difference between red fruit and yellow fruit. Statistically, Hongguo Kaduai often wins prizes. Kaduai, Kaddura, New World and Bourbon are ranked as the four main varieties in Brazil.

Pacamara (Pacamara): the pedigree is very complex. It is a hybrid of the Tibika variety elephant bean and the bourbon variety Pacas. Huge beans, second only to elephant beans, is a rising star in El Salvador and a hybrid breed of high-quality coffee all over the world in the past two years. Won two ○○ seven Guatemala and Honduras [COE] double championships, but also arranged to host the top three awards in El Salvador. The name "Pacamara" is very good. It is a compound word of Pacas [Pacas] and elephant bean [Maragogepe]. Pacamara is an excellent variety produced by the Salvadoran Coffee Research Institute from 1957 to 1958. It was not until recent years that it became the darling of boutique coffee.

Kent: the Tibika hybrid found in India has high yield and strong disease resistance, but has never won the International Cup Award.

Interspecific hybridization between Arabica and stout bean (Interspecific Hybrid)

Timor: a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta found in East Timor, but closer to Arabica because its chromosomes are 44 in Arabica rather than 22 in Robusta. Tim's sour taste is low and lacks characteristics. Taiwan is often used to make low-cost formula beans, but East Timor also has a high-altitude purebred Tibica treated with water, which has now entered the boutique market in the United States. To buy Tim coffee, be sure to find out whether the product is mixed or purebred Tibica washed beans, the quality of the two is much worse, the former is mediocre, and the latter has the level of fine beans.

Catimor: an important variety of commercial beans at present. East Timor was colonized by Portugal for 400 years, and the Portuguese had long been in contact with East Timorese coffee trees. In 1959, the Portuguese moved the Brazilian bourbon mutant Kadura to East Timor and interbred with Tim, who was of Robusta origin, and succeeded in breeding Kadim with strong disease resistance and super production capacity. During the period from 1977 ○ to 1999 ○, leaf rust affected coffee producing countries around the world. With the assistance of international organizations, various producing countries vigorously promoted Kadim to fight leaf rust and increase production capacity. However, although Katim inherited the advantages of Robusta's strong disease resistance, but also inherited the gene of poor flavor, in addition, although the early Katim had a large production capacity, it needed shade trees to serve, otherwise it was easy to wither, which can be said to be strong and dry. Over the decades, many botanists have studied the improvement of Kadim varieties, and dozens of new varieties have been cultivated. Colombia is the biggest harvester. In 1982, Kadim, which can be planted in the sun, was cultivated and named after the country "Colombia." Costa Rica claims that unlike ordinary kadim, [Colombia], which has been interbred for many generations, is now the two main varieties in the country with Kaddura, which has long replaced Tibica, which is weak, sickly and with low yield. However, most of the winners of Costa Rican [COE] are Kaddura, and [Colombia], who is of Robusta descent, rarely wins the prize. A large number of [Supermo] commercial beans exported by Costa Rica should be lower altitude [Colombia] or Kaddura, rather than the traditional Tibica, which is the main reason why the flavor of [Supermo] is getting poorer and poorer, but it is impossible for Costa Rica to reproduce the less productive Tibica.

In order to improve the bad evaluation of the Kadim Cup, in recent years, botanists from various countries have turned to the interbreeding of Arabica and Katim for many generations, in an attempt to reduce the Robusta pedigree and improve the elegant flavor of Arabica, so they have cultivated a new generation of Kadim, including [CatimorH528], [CatimorH306], and [CatimorT5175] and [CatimorT8667] of Costa Rica. But Costa Rica has abandoned the cultivation of Kadim, focusing on Kaddura varieties, and exporting the improved Kadim to Asian countries. There are countless Katim strains, and the cup test results and habits of each strain are also different, but although it has been improved for many years, Katim has not yet entered the top 30 list of the International Cup. Kadim's biggest fatal injury is that it is not inferior to Kaddura, Kaduai or bourbon beans grown at low altitude, but the cup test results planted at high altitude are significantly lower than those of bourbon, Kaduai or Kaddura. It remains to be seen whether Kadim can ascend to the Hall of Great elegance. Looking forward to one day to cultivate a super Kadim suitable for high altitude, shocked the boutique coffee industry.

Icatu: a masterpiece of Brazilian multi-generation hybrid and improved varieties. In the past, Alabasta (Arabusta), a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta, improved yield and resistance to leaf rust, but the flavor of coffee was not good. Scientists have crossed Alabasta with Arabica varieties such as Kaddura, New World and Bourbon for many generations to reduce the bad smell of Alabasta year by year and improve the fragrance of Arabica, thus giving birth to Icato with more Arabica lineages than Robbsta. This excellent "hybrid" is becoming more and more popular in Brazil and has repeatedly made it into the top 10 of Brazil [COE]. Katim is also improving its flavor in this direction.

Ruyilu 11 (Ruiru 11): another hybrid product that reproduces low quality. In 1985, the Ruilu Coffee Research Center in Kenya used Tim as a "stallion" to create a new variety of Arabica and Robusta, which aims to improve disease resistance and increase production capacity, but the flavor is not good. Kenyan enthusiasts worry that the popularity of this hybrid may affect farmers' willingness to plant [SL28] and [SL34], resulting in the Bad money drives out good effect and damaging the image of Kenyan beans.

Chandragiri: a hybrid variety newly cultivated and mass-produced in India in December 2007, ○○. It is a hybrid of Vera Saatchi and Kadim, a well-known variety of bourbon in Costa rica. it is resistant to leaf rust and has a high production capacity of 1100 to 1800 kg of coffee beans per hectare. However, the flavor still needs to be tested by the market.

-the information was transferred from Han Huaizong's Coffee Studies.