Coffee Varieties<\/h3>\n

Why Are Coffee Varieties Important?<\/h4>\n

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How important coffee varieties are depends on your role in the coffee supply chain: producer, barista, roaster, consumer, If you\u2019re a\u00a0consumer, you might be wondering why you really need to learn another set of labels for your coffee. Is the variety really that important, compared to\u00a0the country of origin,\u00a0roast level, and\u00a0processing method? And if it is important, why do only some coffee bags tell you about it?\u00a0 The simple answer is that coffee varieties can affect the flavour of the coffee. Some, like Bourbon, are known for their sweet taste. Others, like Gesha\/Geisha, are known for tea-like qualities.\u00a0 But coffee flavour isn\u2019t just about the variety: it\u2019s also about the growing conditions, processing, and more. The uniqueness of a high-quality coffee is part of what makes this beverage so wonderful. Roasters, you need to know about varieties because they don\u2019t just affect the flavour profile \u2013 they also affect how you roast.\u00a0 Different beans will have different sizes: Maragogype is famously large, while Mokka is tiny. And since roasting is a physical transformation,\u00a0how heat is transferred throughout the bean is of key importance. You need to understand the physical makeup of your coffee (especially if you\u2019re blending). And\u00a0producers, varieties are of critical importance to you. Your choice will affect the flavour profile and potential cup score, the hardiness of the plant and its resistance to disease, its productivity, which altitude and temperature it grows at best, and more.\u00a0 Another reason to care about varieties is that\u00a0Arabica coffee has a worryingly low genetic diversity.\u00a0This means it is more susceptible to disease and climate change \u2013 and\u00a0could even theoretically become extinct in the future. Creating and\/or finding more genetic variety is of key importance right now.<\/p>\n

Species, Variety, Cultivar They are many different species of coffee \u2013 over 100, according to World Coffee Research (WCR) \u2013 but the main three are Arabica, Robusta, and\u00a0Liberica. Specialty coffee shops rarely sell anything but Arabica, shunning Robusta for its harsher, more bitter taste \u2013 although\u00a0some shops\u00a0are making the case for Fine Robustas. Liberica is usually only consumed in the Philippines.\u00a0 The category below \u201cspecies\u201d, when describing plants, is \u201cvariety\u201d. Varieties refer to different variations within the species. For example, Caturra is a variety of Arabica while Nganda is a variety of Robusta. As for a\u00a0cultivar, that\u2019s a coffee variety that has been created by humans in an agricultural setting. Another point that confuses many people is the difference between\u00a0varietal\u00a0and\u00a0variety. Simply put, \u201cvariety\u201d is a noun and \u201cvarietal\u201d is an adjective. However, because language is almost as complex as coffee genetics, it\u2019s possible to use \u201cvarietal\u201d in a way that acts as a noun when discussing the coffee product rather than the plant (something called nominalisation).\u00a0But this is an article about coffee, not linguistics: it\u2019s enough to say that the differences between \u201cvarietal\u201d and \u201cvariety\u201d are just grammatical. There are many coffee varieties around the world, and we couldn\u2019t hope to cover all of them in just one article. However, we\u2019re going to take a quick look at some of the most famous or noteworthy Arabica varieties.<\/p>\n

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Typica<\/h4>\n

Typica coffee is one of the earliest and most important coffee varieties, having been around for centuries and engendered numerous others. Notable Typica varieties include Java, Maragogype, and Timor Hybrid. You\u2019ll find this plant being farmed in Central America, Jamaica, and Asia. The WCR label it as low-yield, high-quality, and susceptible to rust and pests. It\u2019s often described as having a clean, sweet acidity.<\/p>\n

Bourbon<\/h4>\n

A natural mutation of Typica, Bourbon is a high-quality, medium-yield coffee known for its sweet taste. It has, however, low resistance to leaf rust, coffee berry borer, and other diseases and pests. It\u2019s commonly grown in\u00a0Burundi\u00a0and Rwanda, as well as throughout Latin America.\u00a0 Why should you know about Bourbon? For the same reasons why you should know about Typica: its early appearance in the \u201ccoffee variety tree\u201d makes it a common variety that has also engendered numerous others.<\/p>\n

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Ethiopian Heirloom<\/h4>\n

While most Arabica coffee varieties come from Typica or Bourbon, coffee originally comes from Ethiopia \u2013 and\u00a0Kew Gardens have established that the country holds 95% of coffee\u2019s genetic diversity.\u00a0When you see \u201cEthiopian Heirloom\u201d written on a bag of coffee, it means that it was probably grown wild or in a lightly cultivated garden.<\/p>\n

Timor Hybrid<\/h4>\n

Timor Hybrid is a controversial coffee, since it\u2019s a (spontaneous) Arabica-Robusta hybrid. Robusta is a more, well,\u00a0robust\u00a0coffee species: it offers hardiness and resistance to\u00a0coffee leaf rust\u00a0in exchange for a less appealing flavour and aroma profile. \u00a0As a result, this unique coffee has been used in many cultivars, particularly\u00a0Catimors\u00a0and\u00a0Sarchimors. Catimors are a group of Caturra and Timor Hybrid crosses, Sarchimors a group of Villa Sarchi and Timor Hybrid crosses. Examples of these include Castillo, Colombia, and Marsellesa.Specialty coffee buyers can be wary of any plant with a Timor Hybrid parentage \u2013 but some producers, especially those at lower altitudes where coffee leaf rust is more likely, believe less risk is worth a potentially lower cup quality and price.<\/p>\n

Gesha\/Geisha<\/p>\n

Gesha\/Geisha originated in the village of Gesha, Ethiopia, but remained under the radar until 2003 in Panama. Since then, Panamanian Geisha has become one of the industry\u2019s most-famous coffees. With most coffee championship finalists using it. it\u2019s become a byword for excellence \u2013 and exclusivity. It has a distinctive profile: tea-like with a jasmine aroma, orange blossom and bergamot notes, and delicate florals. As for the plant, it grows best at high altitudes (WCR recommend above 1,400 m.a.s.l.), is low-yielding, and can be delicate. While it has earned high prices at auction, there have been horror stories of producers growing it outside of Panama only to see their plants die in incompatible climates and soil.<\/p>\n

F1 Hybrids<\/p>\n

F1 hybrids are a new generation of coffee varieties that have the potential to be high-quality, rust-resistant, and high-yielding. They are typically mass-produced in advanced nurseries. Notable F1 hybrids include Centromeric, which has seen\u00a0recent success in the Nicaraguan Cup of Excellence.One of the most important points about F1 hybrids, for producers, is that they are typically more expensive and harder to obtain. They are mass propagated in sophisticated nurseries with tissue culture labs (i.e., they are cloned) instead of by seed. This is necessary because their germinated seeds (the F2, or second generation) will not necessarily possess the same great qualities as the F1 mother plant, meaning that farmers cannot rely on the performance of the plant. For this reason, WCR advises that producers only buy from reputable nurseries.<\/p>\n

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Caturra<\/p>\n

A natural Bourbon mutation, Caturra is a dwarf tree with an average yield, average quality, and average bean size \u2013 in fact, the WCR description of an average yield is \u201cCaturra-like\u201d. It is susceptible to rust and pests, and commonly grown throughout Brazil and Latin America. I\u2019ve included it here because of how common it is.<\/p>\n

Catuai<\/p>\n

Catuai is a Mundo Novo and Caturra cross that shares many of the same characteristics as Caturra: average yield, average quality, average bean size, susceptibility to rust and pests, and dwarf status. This is only an introduction to the wonderful world of coffee varieties. There are many more that deserve attention: Pacas,\u00a0Pacamara, Maracaturra, Rume Sudan, Laurina, SL-28, SL-34\u2026 The list goes on and on. Producers, pick your coffee varieties carefully. Do your research: understand the demands of each one, and the risks that come with it. When planting a new variety, consider starting slowly, with only a small portion of your farm. As for you, coffee lovers, taste as many varieties as possible. Pay attention to how they vary. Compare different varieties grown in the same region \u2013 or the same variety grown across different regions. As you start to learn more about how the variety can affect your cup, your appreciation of coffee will only grow.<\/p>\n

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Coffee Varieties Why Are Coffee Varieties Important? How important coffee varieties are depends on your role in the coffee supply chain: producer, barista, roaster, consumer, If you\u2019re a\u00a0consumer, you might be wondering why you really need to learn another set of labels for your coffee. Is the variety really that important, compared to\u00a0the country of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,149,160,179],"tags":[157,158,167,180,181,182,183,184,185,186],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-coffee","category-varieties","category-agronomy","category-grading","tag-pacamara","tag-geisha","tag-catuai","tag-f1","tag-hybrid","tag-timor","tag-ethiopian","tag-heirloom","tag-bourbon","tag-typica"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":false,"total_views":0,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1783,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions\/1783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maillardreaction.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}