Coffee varietals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Main article: Coffee

Map of coffee bean producton: r for C. robusta, a for C.arabica, and m for both species

Coffee varietals refer to the genetic subspecies of coffee.

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.

1 Arabica varietals
- 1.1 Blends
2 Robusta varietals
3 Notes

[edit] Arabica varietals

Coffee from the species Coffea arabica are richer in flavor than their Coffea robusta counterparts. C. arabica has many different varietals, each with unique characteristics. Some well-known arabica coffees include:

Colombian — Coffee was first introduced to the country of Colombia in the early 1800s. Today Maragogype, Caturra, Typica and Bourbon cultivars are grown. When Colombian coffee is freshly roasted it has a bright acidity, is heavy in body and is intensely aromatic. Colombia accounts for about 12% of the coffee market (by value) in the world, second only to Brazil.^[1]
Colombian Milds — Includes coffees from Colombia, Kenya, and Tanzania, all of which are washed arabicas.

Unroasted coffee beans of the Coffea arabica variety, from Brazil
Costa Rican Tarrazu — from the San Marcos de Tarrazu valley in the highlands outside of San José.
Ethiopian Sidamo from the Sidamo (now Oromia) region of Ethiopia
Guatemala Huehuetenango — Grown at over 5000 feet in the northern region, one of the most remote growing regions in Guatemala
Ethiopian Harar — from the region of Harar, Ethiopia. Known for its complex, fruity flavor that resembles a dry red wine.
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. Coffee was first introduced to the Islands by Chief Boki, the Governor of Oahu, in 1825.
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.
Kenyan — Known among coffee enthusiasts to have a bright, "acidic" flavor.
Mexico - Produces hard bean coffee.
Mocha — Yemeni coffee traded through the once major port of Mocha. Not to be confused with the preparation style (coffee with cocoa).
Santos - from Brazil's famous coffee pass through, is a low acidic light bodied brew. [1]
Sumatra Mandheling and Sumatra Lintong — Mandheling is named after the similarly spelt Mandailing Batak ethnic group located in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The name is the result of a misunderstanding by the first foreign purchaser of the variety, and no coffee is actually produced in the "Mandailing region". Lintong on the other hand, is named after the Lintong district, also 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 its semi-dry processing, it may roast a bit unevenly.
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.
Uganda- Although it mostly produces robusta coffee, there is a quality arabica blend grown there known as Bugishu.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Blends

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.

[edit] Robusta varietals

Whilst not separate varieties of bean, unusual and very expensive robustas are 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.