What are the differences in flavors between different coffee beans? (Must-read dry goods)

When terms such as Arabica, Gesha, Typica, Bourbon, Catimum, etc. appear more and more in the eyes of coffee lovers, it means that in addition to flavor descriptions, origin information, and processing methods, coffee bean varieties are becoming one of the hot topics in the specialty coffee industry.

So, what are the differences between different coffee bean varieties? How big are the flavor differences? Let’s take a deeper look today!

The above picture was taken at Nanjing Muxin Garden Coffee

Three major species of coffee

According to the scientific biological classification system, coffee belongs to the plant kingdom, Rubiaceae, Coffea genus, and Coffea species.

Species is the basic unit of plant taxonomy. It is a category divided according to the properties or characteristics of the plant itself, and usually has stable genetic characteristics. There are clear boundaries between species, and they often reproduce independently without intersecting with each other.

The coffee plant is divided into three different species according to its characteristics (each species has different varieties).

1. Arabica accounts for about 70% of the world's total production

2. Robusta accounts for about 30% of the world's total production

3. Liberica: Very low yield

At the same time, there are more than 100 species that have not yet been used for commercial cultivation.

Coffee trees photographed at Coffea Diversa Estate in Costa Rica

Although Robusta is slightly better in terms of yield, resistance to pests and diseases, and easy cultivation at low altitudes, Arabica is more widely planted around the world for its elegant, delicate, rich and sweet taste . Generally speaking, when people talk about specialty coffee, they usually refer to Arabica.

Generally, Robusta is mainly used in instant coffee and some espresso coffees that want to emphasize bitterness, strength and reduce costs. However, there are also high-quality Robusta with good floral and fruity aromas on the market, but they are expensive and have small production.

Arabica's parents

Don’t look down on Robusta just because Arabica has a good flavor. After all, Arabica still contains the genes of Robusta.

In fact, Arabica coffee is a natural hybrid of Canephora (Robusta is a representative of the Canephora species) and Eugenioides (the Arabica mother species) .

This beautiful love story happened in the wild forests of eastern Ethiopia, where there are still thousands of native Arabica coffee species waiting to be understood and developed by humans.

Photographed at Coffea Diversa Estate in Costa Rica

Think about it, the father, Carnifora, is tall and strong but rough and boring, but the child, Arabica, is lovable with a variety of flavors. This has to be said that the genes of the mother, Eugenioides, are strong enough. So it is not surprising that the mother Arabica has an amazing taste. For a detailed introduction to the mother beans, click on " Superb beans: taste like rock sugar and snow pear? (Everyone likes it after trying it) If you want to try it, press and hold the QR code below to get it.

Scan the QR code in the picture to buy rare Arabica mother varieties

What are varieties?

Here we will only discuss the different varieties of Arabica beans. After all, not many people like Robusta, and the production of Liberica is very small, and the flavor is not that pleasing.

There are many different varieties/species of Arabica, all of which have typical characteristics of Arabica, such as being tetraploid plants with 44 chromosomes, self-pollinating plants, and dicotyledons. However, they are different in details, such as the shape and size of leaves, the shape of flowers, the color, size and shape of fruits, etc.

The differences between different coffee tree leaves,

Photographed at Coffea Diversa Estate in Costa Rica

Of course, these differences also create differences in the flavors of different coffee beans, just like Kyoho and Muscat, both are grapes, but different.

Coffee experts and coffee farmers around the world have been looking for a balance between yield, pest and disease resistance, environmental adaptability and flavor. This is why different coffee bean varieties are grown around the world.

Where do different bean varieties come from?

The original species in nature, the new variety produced by gene mutation during the planting process. Although Arabica is self-pollinating, it occasionally undergoes natural hybridization. In order to obtain high yields, resistance to pests and diseases, and good flavor, humans will carry out artificial hybridization to cultivate new varieties.

Common sources of soybeans

Original species: Typica, Geisha, Rome Sudan, Ushush (also written as wush wush)

Gene mutations: Bourbon, Caturra, Villa Sarchi, Pacas, Maragogype

Natural hybrids: Timor Hybrid, Pacamara, Mundo Novo (New World)

Artificial hybrids: Catuai, Catimores, Sarchimores

What are the different flavors of different beans?

Unfortunately, despite the variety of Arabica, the genetic similarity is as high as 98.8% (based on a genetic analysis of 947 different Arabica varieties by the World Coffee Research Organization WCE). This basically means that Arabica is not genetically diverse enough to be more resilient in the face of global climate change and any other threats.

But it also means that with such high genetic similarity, the flavors of different coffee beans are also quite similar. In theory, the greater the genetic difference, the greater the flavor difference of the coffee beans.

As we all know, genes are only one of the factors that contribute to different coffee flavors. Regional characteristics and processing methods also have a great impact on the flavor of coffee .

Regional characteristics refer to the latitude, altitude, soil, rainfall, temperature, humidity and other conditions of the planting site.

Processing methods refer to the different ways of removing the peel, pulp, and pectin from coffee cherries after they are picked. Common methods include water washing, honey processing, sun drying, and anaerobic fermentation.

There is a saying in China that oranges in the south grow differently in the north, so it is not difficult to understand that the same coffee variety grown in different countries will definitely have different flavors. It is impossible to distinguish the flavor difference between the Caturra grown in Panama and the Typica grown in Indonesia, because the differences in region and processing methods have caused huge flavor differences between the two beans.

Therefore, ideally, to compare the differences between different coffee bean varieties, you should use coffee from the same land and processed in the same way. Another interesting way is to choose coffee from different origins/different coffee bean varieties/different processing methods, have the same roaster roast them using the best curve, and then cup test or brew them together to distinguish the differences between their flavors and enrich your coffee bean flavor library. Why not give it a try 🙂