Types of Coffee Beans which Professional Baristas Swear By!

When you buy coffee beans from a reputable place, you feel pretty safe in the knowledge that you will get decent quality coffee. However, it can be hard to know what exactly you are buying with so many different coffee bean types. Even coffee roasters don’t know all of them, and we bet half the time they choose beans according to the size of their price tags rather than anything else! The taste of coffee can vary significantly from region to region, depending on where the beans are grown. For this reason, it can be challenging to wade through all of the world’s different coffee beans and their origins. Fortunately, we have answers for you! There are four different types of coffee beans that the American Coffee Association has classified. 

• Arabica Coffee Beans: They are mild, sweet, and aromatic. This is the most popular type of coffee bean in the world. Arabica beans have more sugar in them but less protein and fat. These differences in chemical composition mean that they can be more acidic and have a "brighter" flavor with more fruity notes. They are also a bit sweeter, smoother, and more floral than robusta. Robusta beans are bitter and have a grainy flavor to them.
• Robusta Coffee Beans: The Robusta coffee bean is much more hardy and disease resistant than the Arabica bean. It’s grown at lower altitudes and has a more earthy flavor with less acidity. Robusta coffee beans have twice as much caffeine as Arabica coffee beans do. Robusta is hardier and easier to grow, but it produces beans with twice as much caffeine as Arabica. These types of coffee bean are also less expensive, making them popular for instant coffees and espresso blends.
  
  
• Liberica Coffee Beans: They are produced in West and Central Africa; their flavor is woody, floral, or smoky. Liberica coffee beans are one of the rarest types of beans available in the world. It has been widely reported that these beans only represent about 3% of worldwide coffee production. These large, irregularly shaped beans are native to the Philippines and were initially considered novelty beans.
  
  
• Excelsa Coffee Beans: They are grown in Southeast Asia and Africa. They have a fruity flavor similar to wild cherries and plums. Excelsa is a type of coffee bean that is used in many different blends. Not only does it have a unique flavor profile compared to other types of coffee beans, but it also has some unique characteristics that set it apart from many other coffee varieties.

People say that variety is the spice of life or that it is the one thing missing from their lives. Coffee varieties are classified based on their genetic makeup and their characteristics as coffee plants. When we think about what makes coffee different — flavor, body, acidity — we are really talking about the traits of the plant itself. And those traits come directly from the genetics of the coffee variety. The purpose of offering different types of coffee varieties is to cater to the varying tastes and preferences of customers who have grown accustomed to the variety found in restaurants or specialty shops. However, there is no greater variety than the Arabica bean. Here we shall take a look at how a variety of Arabica coffee beans came about over the years.

• Typica (Ethiopia)
  Typica is the common name of an heirloom variety of Arabica coffee that has been cultivated in countries such as Ethiopia since the beginning of the 19th century. It was originally planted around a monastery in the Sidamo region. Over the last decade, Typica made a considerable comeback and became a major planting concentration due to its desirable yield, cup profile, and disease resistance.
• Bourbon (France)
  Bourbon is a French variety of Arabica coffee. It was developed on the island of Bourbon (now called Reunion) and found its way to Latin America in the 1800s, where it became one of the main varieties of coffee grown in that region. The name was not given according to the French tradition, but after the island where it was first cultivated. Bourbon has high quality and productivity potential, with high cup quality, a fruity flavor, and a floral aroma.

• Caturra (Brazil)
  The Caturra is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety. It grows at an average height of 2-3 meters, which makes it easier to cultivate, and therefore also more susceptible to disease and pests. The plant produces a medium sized coffee bean with a light body, citrus acidity and a distinctive floral aroma.

• Pacamara (Central America)
  Pacamara is a relatively new variety, created by crossing the Pacas variety with the Maragogipe. It was first discovered in El Salvador and is now grown extensively throughout Central America. The large bean size and its unique flavor account for its popularity. These forms of beans are more elongated than those of other Arabica varieties, and they can reach up to 60% larger in size.

• Catuai (Central America)
  Catuai is a hybrid variety of coffee created in Brazil in the 1930s as a cross between two traditional coffee varieties – Mundo Novo and Caturra. It was developed to help increase the production levels of arabica coffee plants.

• Mundo Novo (Brazil)
  This is a hybrid between arabica and robusta, created by Brazil in the 1940s. As a result of the cross, it has more resistance to disease, higher productivity, and better quality beans than robusta. It accounts for 90% of the Brazilian crop (almost all their coffee). Mundo Novo is primarily grown in Brazil, Bolivia, and Costa Rica.

• Yellow Bourbon (Brazil)
  Yellow Bourbon is a coffee variety (also known as cultivar) of Coffea arabica. Yellow Bourbon trees produce many sweet, juicy seeds and are easy to grow. The coffee they make has a clean taste with well-balanced acidity and a medium body. This coffee type has a pleasant aroma, with hints of caramel and chocolate, and its flavor tends toward sweet fruit and roasted nuts.

• Red Bourbon (Africa/South America)
  Bourbon is one of the most famous Arabica varieties in the world, and it is known for its lovely fruit, bright acidity, and complex aromas. The coffee plants are smaller than some other varieties. Red Bourbon has a high potential for coffee quality, but it is more susceptible to coffee leaf rust and requires more fertilizer and inputs. The coffee-producing regions with good altitude, well-drained soil, higher precipitation, and low temperatures are ideal for the red bourbon variety.

Typica and Bourbon are two of the most common varieties in use today. Many hybrid varieties have been created from these plants, making them some of the most prolific plants in coffee history.

Decaffeination Process

Many coffee beans have names that refer to the process by which they are decaffeinated. There are several different techniques for removing caffeine from coffee beans, including the Swiss Water Process and the Mountain Water Process. Because these methods are very different from one another, it’s important to know which method has been used if you’re concerned about how much caffeine is in your coffee. The benefit of this type of naming convention is that it makes it easy to identify which beans have had their caffeine removed for a fact.

Coffee Varietal 

Some coffee beans are named for the varietal (or cultivar) that was used in their production. Varietals are specific strains of Arabica or Robusta coffee that have been bred to exhibit certain characteristics and flavors, so naming your coffee after its varietal can give you some idea of what it’s going to taste like.

Roasting Process

The roasting process produces a significant change in green beans' physical properties and chemical properties. This is important to understand, as it directly influences the taste of coffee and its aroma. The degree of degassing also plays an important role in determining the name of the coffee beans.

• Light roast: This coffee has a light brown color and tends to have a light acidity as well as a mild aroma.
• Medium roast: The medium-roasted coffee beans still have a bit more acid than dark roast. They are characterized by their intense aroma and their golden brown color.
• Dark roast: Dark roasted coffee grounds have less acidity and a bitter, smoky taste. They receive their typical dark color through long exposure to heat.