Coffee Beans - types of coffee

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Coffee Beans

There are two main types of the coffee plant; Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora robusta.

Coffea Arabica
Coffea arabica is the older species and is indigenous to Ethiopia, where coffee was first discovered. It is also known as the "coffee shrub of Arabia", "mountain coffee" or "arabica coffee". Coffea Arabica is believed to be the first species of coffee to be cultivated. This occured in the 6th Century in Yemen where it is still being cultivated today. Coffea Arabica is considered to produce the best commercial grown coffee.
As a wild plant Coffea Arabica grows between 7-12 m tall, and has an open branching system; the leaves are opposite, simple elliptic-ovate to oblong, 6-12 cm long and 4-8 cm wide, with a glossy dark green colouring. The flowers are produced in axillary clusters, each flower white, and 1-1.5 cm in diameter. The fruit is a berry 10-15 mm long, maturing bright red to purple, is edible and sweet. Insided are two seeds (the coffee bean) which has the bitter taste.
Growing Coffea arabica is harder than Coffea canephora robusta as it is more susceptible to the environment and disease. The reason for this is that Coffea canephorora robusta contains around twise as much caffine which acts as a natural insecticide (paralyzing or killing some of the insects that tempt to feet on it). This has led robusta to become a less expensive and lower quality substitute for arabica in many coffee blends and nearly all instant coffee products.
Tasting and smelling the difference; Arabicas have a wider taste range, between varieties. Ranging from sweet-soft to sharp-tangy. Their unroasted smell is close to that of blueberries. Roasted arabica has a sugary fruit smell. Robusta tends to be more bitter, grainlike with a "burnt rubber" smell and taste. High quality robustas are avaliable, rare but seen in Italy; often a blend of dark roasted robusta which has the advantage of creating good crema.

Arabica coffees were traditionally named by the port they were exported from, the two oldest being Mocha, from Yemen, and Java, from Indonesia. The modern coffee trade is much more specific about origin, labeling coffees by country, region, and sometimes even the producing estate. Coffee aficionados may even distinguish auctioned coffees by lot number.

The largest coffee exporting nation remains Brazil, but in recent years the green coffee market has been flooded by large quantities of robusta beans from Vietnam [2], due to low costs and to financing provided by the World Bank indirectly through the French Government. Many experts believe this giant influx of cheap green coffee led to the prolonged pricing crisis from 2001 to the present. In 1997 the "c" price of coffee in New York broke US$3.00/lb, but by late 2001 it had fallen to US$0.43/lb. Robusta coffees (traded in London at much lower prices than New York's Arabica) are preferred by large industrial clients (multinational roasters, instant coffee producers, etc.) because of their lower cost.

One unusual and very expensive variety of robusta is the Indonesian Kopi Luwak and the Philippine Kape Alamid. The beans are collected from the droppings of the Common Palm Civet, whose digestive processes give it a distinctive flavor.

Coffee bean varieties

Unroasted coffee beans of the Coffea arabica variety, from Brazil

Coffee beans from two different places usually have distinctive characteristics such as flavor (flavor criteria includes terms such as "citrus-like" or "earthy"), caffeine content, body or mouthfeel, and acidity. These are dependent on the local environment where the coffee plants are grown, their method of process, and the genetic subspecies or varietal.

Some well-known arabica coffees include:

• Coffee was first introduced to the country of Colombia in the early 1800's. Today Maragogype, Caturra, Typica and Bourbon cultivars are cultivated. When Colombian coffee is freshly roasted it has a bright acidity, is heavy in body and is intensely aromatic. Colombia produces about 12% of the coffee in the world, second only to Brazil.
• Colombian Milds - Includes coffees from Colombia, Kenya, and Tanzania, all of which are washed arabicas.
• Costa Rican Tarrazu - from the Tarrazu Valley in the highlands outside of San José, archetypal estate coffee is La Minita.
• Guatemala Huehuetenango - Grown at over 5000 feet in the northern region, one of the most remote growing regions in Guatemala
• Ethiopian Harrar — from the region of Harar, Ethiopia
• Ethiopian Yirgacheffe — from the area of the town of Yirga Cheffe in the Sidamo (now Oromia) region of Ethiopia
• Hawaiian Kona — grown on the slopes of Hualalai in the Kona District on the Big Island of Hawaii.
• Jamaican Blue Mountain — From the Blue Mountain region of Jamaica. Due to its popularity, it fetches a high price in the market.
• Java — from the island of Java, in Indonesia. This coffee was once so widely traded that "java" became a slang term for coffee.
• Kenya AA — from Kenya. The "AA" is a grade/rating within Kenya's coffee auction system. It might come from any one of a number of districts. Known among coffee enthusiasts to have an "acidic" flavor.
• Sumatra Mandheling and Sumatra Lintong — Mandheling is named for the Mandheling region outside Padang in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Contrary to its name, no coffee is actually produced from the "Mandheling region," and "Sumatra Mandheling" is used as a marketing tool by Indonesian coffee producers. Lintong on the other hand, is named after the Lintong district, located in North Sumatra.
• Sulawesi Toraja Kalossi - Grown at high altitudes on the island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) in the middle of the Malay archipelago in Indonesia. Kalossi is the small town in central Sulawesi which serves as the collection point for the coffee and Toraja is the mountainous area in which the coffee is grown. Celebes exhibits a rich, full body, well-balanced acidity (slightly more than Sumatra) and is multi-dimensional in character. It has dark chocolate and ripe fruit undertones. It is an excellent coffee for darker roasting. Because of it's semi-dry processing, it may roast a bit unevenly, but don't cull the odd beans-they add to the complexity of the cup.
• Mocha — Yemeni coffee traded through the once major port of Mocha. Mocha is believed to be the first coffee used in a blend, along with beans from Java. Not to be confused with the preparation style (coffee with cocoa).
• Tanzania Peaberry — grown on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. "Peaberry" means that the beans come one to a cherry (coffee fruit) instead of the usual two. Peaberries are naturally occurring and account for approximately 10% of any crop.

Coffees are often blended for balance and complexity, and many popular blendings exist. One of the oldest traditional blends is Mocha-Java, combining beans of the same name. The chocolate flavor notes peculiar to Mocha gave rise to the popular chocolate-flavored beverage, the Cafe Mocha, which may have been invented in circumstances where no Mocha beans were available. Nowadays, the Mocha-Java blend is often blended with some other varieties to provide variety. In addition to those blends sold commercially, many coffee houses have their own signature "house blends".

Some bean varieties are so well-known and so in-demand that they are far more expensive than others. Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona coffees are perhaps the most prominent examples. Often these beans are blended with other, less expensive varieties and the suffix "blend" added to the labelling, such as "Blue Mountain blend" or "Kona blend" even though they only contain a small amount of the coffee mentioned.