Coffee Varieties
Bourbon
Widely considered to be one of the most culturally and genetically important varieties in the world. It gained its name from the French missionaries who brought it from Yemen to the Island of Bourbon in the early 1700’s, and made its way to other parts of the world as the missionaries moved to parts of Africa and the Americas. Known for its excellent cup quality, which has been anecdotally said to be sweeter and juicier than other varieties. The fruits of the Bourbon plant can be yellow, red, orange or pink. The Bourbon variety has many descendants including Caturra, Catuai, and Mundo Novo, which are grown all over Central and South America, but the OG Bourbon can still be found growing in parts of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru.
Catuaí
The name Catuaí derives from the Tupi-Guarani South American aboriginal language, meaning “very good." There are yellow-fruited and red-fruited types, and the yellow fruits are said to have a petroleum-like aftertaste when cool. This cultivar was created in 1949 from a crossing of yellow Caturra and Mundo Novo, and initially called H-2077. Today you can find this dwarf variety all over Central America, where it was planted for its small stature and good quality.
Caturra
A naturally occurring mutation of the Bourbon variety that was discovered on a plantation in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil in the early 20th century. Known for having higher acidity and lighter body than its Bourbon parent, this variety is capable of producing an excellent cup. A compact plant that has the advantage of being smaller, and thus easier to harvest and maintain. Caturra is also known for being one of the parents the so-called “Catimor” family of cultivars. These lines of the coffee-leaf-rust-resistant Timor Hybrid were crossed with Caturra to produce smaller plants with rust resistance.
Colombia
As the name suggests, this cultivar came out of Colombia back in 1982 due to the work of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, one of the largest rural NGO’s in the world. It was created by crossing the Timor Hybrid and Caturra varietals. It’s quite popular on small farms because it is known to produce a high yield and resists disease very well. The Colombia cultivar traditionally comes across as sweet and bright, with lots of body.
Cusatleco
A dwarf leaf-rust resistance Sarchimor hybrid developed in El Salvador by selectively breeding a variety known as T5296. Cuscatleco has a long '“canoe'‘ shape with a distinctly large center cut in the bean. It has the potential for fair to good cup quality at medium altitudes, making it an important player in El Salvador’s battle against leaf-rust.
Ethiopian Landraces
A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, traditional variety that has developed over time through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and in part due to isolation from other populations of the species. In Ethiopia, where C. arabica evolved in the forest naturally and through a process of human-led domestication, “Landrace” is often all the identifying information we have on the varieties making up a specific lot. More recently though, work has been done to start categorizing and naming the estimated 2,000 plus native Landraces found in Ethiopia’s coffee growing areas. Landraces are generally associated with very high cup quality and lower yields, and are partially responsible for the delicate, floral, tea and fruit tones found in quality coffees from Ethiopia.
Gesha
The Gesha variety has, by far, accrued more accolades and fanfare than any other coffee varietal over the past 15 years. Originating in Ethiopia, this coffee was brought to Panama in the 1960s after being recognized for its resistance to coffee leaf rust. It’s there that it was brought to fame by a Best of Panama competition in 2005, where it received such high scores that it broke records for green coffee auction prices. This plant, which is tall in stature, thrives at high altitudes, where its delicate floral and intense tropical fruit notes tend to shine through the most.
Marsellesa
Marsellesa is a cultivar created by crossing Timor Hybrid with Villa Sarchi and is high yielding and leaf-rust resistant variety that has a good to high cup quality potential. This Sarchimor (family of Timor / Villa Sarchi hybrids) has the potential to have a positive impact on a farm’s risk to leaf-rust. Our good friends at Divisadero Farms in El Salvador have been renovating their fincas with this variety and as of 2019 it has been a major player in their high production lots that we purchase for our blends.
SL-28
SL-28 was created in Kenya by Scott Labs (hence the SL) in the 1930’s and has become a highly sought-after variety and hallmark of Kenyan coffees. Originally created as a drought-resistant variety, it has become prized for its bright and fruity flavor and is said to have the distinct taste of black currants. The fruit and seeds are larger than normal and perform better at higher altitudes.
Villa sarchi
Villa Sarchi is named after the town in Costa Rica where it was discovered in the1950’s. Like Pacas, it exhibits a single gene mutation of Bourbon that causes dwarfism. Though not currently well known outside of Costa Rica, Villa Sarchi exhibits some positive attributes that warrant consideration, such as tolerance to high winds, good cup quality, and well-adapted to high altitudes.
Jackson
Jackson was named after the farmer who discovered this varietal on his property in India back in the early 1900s, after realizing that it was resistant to leaf rust, unlike other plants on his farm. While it has since lost tolerance to leaf rust, it is known for being a vigorous and high yielding plant. Jackson is part of the Bourbon family, and most researchers believe that it originated out of Yemen and was spread to India back in the 1600s by Baba Budan, who smuggled the coffee beans back with him after returning home from a pilgrimage to Mecca. Today, this varietal is most commonly found in Rwanda and Burundi.
Mundo Novo
Mundo Novo was discovered in 1943 and is the result of a natural cross between Bourbon and Typica varieties. Seeds of the original coffee plants were planted in the municipality of Novo Mundo, today called Urupês, where selection gave rise to the variety Mundo Novo. A tall and vigorous pant, yet slow maturing, Mundo Novo is capable of high quality cups. Today this variety is still very commercially important in Brazil and other parts of South America, but is less common in Central America.
Pacas
This natural mutation from Bourbon was discovered by the Pacas family in 1949 in the Santa Anna region of El Salvador. It has a single gene mutation that results in a small stature, allowing it to be planted closer together, and leads to higher production per hectare on a given farm. This variety accounts for around 25% of El Salvador’s coffee production, though that is changing fast due to its vulnerabilities to coffee leaf rust.
sL-34
Selected from a single tree on the Loresho Estate in Kabete, Kenya in the 1930’s, SL-34 is prized for its excellent cup quality and potential for fruit flavors, though it is thought to be inferior to SL-28 and is highly susceptible to leaf rust. Recent genetic tests have shown that it is related to the original Typica genetic group taken from the forest of Ethiopia to Yemen centuries ago.
Margogipe
This naturally occurring mutation of Typica received it’s namesake from the town of Marogogipe in Brazil, where it was discovered in 1870. The mutation causes the bean size and leaves to be extremely large, which are signature characteristics of this coffee. The plant is highly susceptible to leaf rust, and has low yield relative to many other varietals. However, many prize this varietal because of its high cup quality, in particular its juicy acidity and deep sweetness.
Pacamara
Created in El Salvador in 1958 by crossing Pacas and Maragogype, which resulted in a variety with extremely large leaves, fruit and seeds. Pacamara is prized for its outstanding cup quality, which can be citrusy, juicy and floral, especially when grown at higher altitudes. It can, however, have an unpleasant herbal and onion-like flavor as well.
Typica
Like Bourbon, Typica is considered to be one of the most culturally and genetically important groups of C. Arabica in the world. According to historical records and recently confirmed by genetic testing, it is known that Typica and Bourbon were brought from the forest in Ethiopia to Yemen for cultivation. Before being separated from the Bourbon branch, the Dutch sent seeds in 1696 and 1699 from the Malabar coast of India to Batavia, today called Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Typica is a low-yielding variety that commonly fruits red and is capable of great cup quality. Despite its low yields and susceptibility to leaf rust, Typica is still cultivated around the world and highly regarded by coffee buyers.