Coffee Encyclopedia│11 Most Common Types of Coffee Beans

Many years ago, a goat discovered a coffee tree in Abyssinia, Ethiopia. Khaldi, a goat herder, noticed that his goat became very excited after eating the berries on the tree, so he tried it too... and that was the origin of coffee. Whether this story is true or not, most Arabica coffee beans do come from Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen. Among them, most coffee beans have undergone natural mutations or artificial hybridization after leaving their place of origin. Of course, I can't cover all the beans that have been discovered in just one short article. Today, let me explain to you in detail the 11 most common coffee beans on the market and their origins and characteristics.

Typica

This is a natural mutation that originated in Yemen. Typica is now the most common coffee variety in the world. This is because the Dutch once planted this coffee in Indonesia, and the French brought it to the Caribbean, and later spread it throughout Central and South America. Typica coffee has a small yield and is very susceptible to leaf rust, so most plantations do not plant Typica coffee alone. Unlike other coffee varieties, Typica coffee has a cone-shaped fruit. Typica coffee is very high quality, so it is very popular in plantations around the world. If grown properly, Typica coffee is sweet, clean and has a pleasant acidity.

Bourbon

Like Typica, Bourbon is a natural mutation that originated in Yemen. It gets its name from the island of Bourbon, now known as Reunion, where it was originally grown. During the French colonial period, the French often exported this coffee overseas, especially to the United States. Bourbon coffee cherries are short, rounded, and have a high density of pulp and seeds. Bourbon coffees are usually sweet and have bright acidity. This coffee has a 20-30% higher yield than Typica, but is still considered a low-yielding variety and is also susceptible to leaf rust. Most Bourbon coffee cherries are red, but there are two natural mutations that have different colors, Orange Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon. Orange Bourbon is sweeter, while Yellow Bourbon is more acidic.

Caturra

Bourbon and Typica have spawned many natural mutations and artificial hybrids, and Caturra is one of them. Caturra is a natural variant of Bourbon coffee, originally discovered in Brazil. Caturra coffee is most common in Central America, with shorter plants, which is easier to pick, and has a higher yield than Bourbon. However, because of this, Caturra coffee tastes thinner than Bourbon, and is relatively less sweet, but has a bright acidity, a clean taste, and a pleasant acidity.

Maragogype

Elephant beans are a variation of Typica coffee, with large bean sizes but lower yields. After roasting, the flavor of Elephant beans is about twice that of regular Bourbon and most Typica variants. You might think that the bigger the bean, the richer the flavor, but this is not the case. Although Elephant beans have a mellower taste, they lack flavor and complexity and are often used to make espresso blends to increase the overall complexity.

New World

New World is a natural hybrid of Red Bourbon and Sumatra Typica, especially popular in Brazil and other places, accounting for 40% of the total Arabica coffee planted in Brazil. New World has a high yield, 30-40% higher than ordinary Bourbon coffee, and is highly disease-resistant. Generally speaking, New World coffee has a lower sweetness due to its high yield per plant.

Catuai

Catuai is a hybrid of New World and Caturra. If grown properly, Catuai is very sweet. Catuai is known for its strong adaptability and can grow in areas with strong winds and rain, so it is considered one of the safest beans.

Catimor

Catimo is a hybrid of Timo (a natural variant of Robusta) and Caturra, produced in a Portuguese laboratory. Catimo has strong disease resistance and adaptability, high yield, easy care, and a unique taste with a sharp sour taste and sometimes a little astringency. Catimo can be said to be one of the most successful cases of laboratory breeding.

Castillo

Castillo is another lab-grown coffee variety that is arguably more successful than Catimo. Tracing its origins, Castillo is a product of Catimo coffee that has undergone a long period of cultivation, mutation, and hybridization through human intervention. The Colombian National Coffee Research Center, Cenicafe, has long been committed to finding coffee varieties with high disease resistance and strong adaptability. Although Castillo coffee tastes slightly worse, as more and more farmers in Colombia grow this variety of coffee and the cultivation and green bean processing processes continue to improve, the quality of Castillo coffee is constantly improving.

Pacamara

Pacamara was born in the Salvadoran Coffee Research Center. It is a hybrid of Elephant beans and Pacas (a natural variant of Bourbon). Its appearance is similar to Elephant beans, but its taste is floral, sweet and pleasant acidity.

SL28 and SL34

In the 1930s-1960s, Scott Labs collaborated on research on Kenyan coffee and local production areas, which resulted in the creation of two artificial hybrids of Bourbon and Ethiopian heirloom coffee. The yield of both coffees is not high, with SL34 having a slightly higher yield than SL28. The disease resistance of the two coffees is average, but the taste is the key to their cultivation. Today, the two coffees have become the main coffee bean varieties grown in Kenya, accounting for 90% of Kenya's total coffee exports. The two coffees are sweet, aromatic, and rich in flavor.

Gesha

Perhaps one of the most popular coffee varieties today, Gesha is a variant of Ethiopian heirloom coffee. This coffee was first discovered in Gesha (or Abyssinia), and is extremely valuable due to its extremely low yield. Many farmers have tried to cross it with high-yielding varieties and have achieved great success in Central America and Panama. Among them, the La Hacienda Esmeralda plantation in Panama is famous for producing the best quality and most expensive Gesha coffee in the world. Their Gesha coffee has won the "Best Coffee in Panama" award and has a very unique aroma of bergamot, jasmine and peach.