Is Arabica a coffee brand from which country?Arabica is the name of a coffee variety, and it is a very common name for coffee varieties."Adopt 100%Arabica coffee beans"Selected Arabica coffee beans"... Everyday when we buy various coffee products, the word "Arabica" is always written on the packaging. So many friends asked FrontStreet Coffee about Arabica coffee beans. In this article, I will briefly talk to you about what is Arabica coffee?
If coffee varieties are divided biologically, they can be divided intoarabica(Coffee arabica/Arabica), Robusta (Coffee arabica/Robusta) and Liberica (Coffee arabica/Liberica). The main popular coffee varieties in the world are Arabica and Robusta. Due to low production or poor quality, Liberica is usually only used in the research and development of coffee varieties and is rarely sold separately on the market.
(Comparison of Arabica and Robusta)
Generally speaking,arabicaIt is mainly used in the currently popular single-origin/specialty coffee, while Robusta is mostly used in instant coffee. This is not to say that Robusta is necessarily worse than Arabica, but just based on the main uses of the two coffee varieties in the market.
Although Arabica can be defined as high-end coffee and Robusta as inferior, it does not necessarily have to be classified in this way. It is more appropriate to distinguish based on your favorite taste. Not all Arabica coffee beans are necessarily the best, and not all Robusta coffee beans are necessarily bad~
What is Arabica coffee?
Arabica coffee beans are not just the name of a coffee variety. To be precise, Arabica is a strain of coffee. Through natural variation/natural hybridization/artificial hybridization, breeding, etc., there are currently hundreds of coffee varieties in the Arabica strain.
However, no matter which variety it is, Arabica coffee originates from Ethiopia, and its current production accounts for 70-75% of global coffee. Front Street believes that the main reason why Arabica coffee is so popular is that this strain of coffee has a more pleasant flavor/taste expression than Robusta, Liberica/Riberica.
Although Arabica coffee has better flavor performance, its weakness is that many varieties are not strong in disease and insect resistance, so they are suitable for growing in high-altitude areas. Especially coffee grown at an altitude of 1200m will have a richer and more refined flavor, but more manpower and material resources will be invested in planting and processing to ensure that the coffee beans have better quality. Therefore, the price of high-altitude Arabica is higher than that of low-altitude Arabica.
What is specialty coffee?
Not all Arabica coffee beans are specialty coffee. Specialty coffee was first proposed in English as "Specialty Coffee". If translated as "specialty coffee" or "specialty coffee", it means that coffee beans with the flavor of the production area are cultivated under the unique microclimate and geographical conditions of the production area.
To put it simply, specialty coffee can taste the flavor that represents the characteristics of the production area. For example, we can taste the bright acidity of Arabica coffee beans in Ethiopia, and we can taste the mellow and herbal taste of Arabica coffee beans in Indonesia.
There are so many varieties of Arabica strains,
What are the mainstream coffee varieties on the market?？
Although there are many branch varieties of the Arabica strain, there are currently only a few varieties that are widely used in cups. Among them are the Ethiopian native varieties Heirloom, Typica, Bourbon, Caturra Catuai, Catimor, Geisha and Sl28&SL34.
1. Jamaica: Typica
Typica is one of the oldest Arabica coffee varieties in the world. The top leaves of the Typica coffee tree are bronze, and the bean body is oval or thin and pointed. The flavor is elegant and balanced, but it has a weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit production. Typica can be found in most areas where Arabica coffee can be grown. Many famous coffee beans, such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Sumatra Mandheling, Hawaiian Kona and other high-quality coffee beans, belong to Typica.
Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee Bean
Origin: Jamaica Blue Mountains
Manor: Clifton Manor
Altitude: 1310m
Variety: Typica
Treatment method: washing treatment
Brewing flavor: dark chocolate, nuts, cream, balance of sweet and sour
2. Brazil: Bourbon
It was first discovered in Brazil in 1930 and is now mainly grown in Brazil. It is generally believed that it may have been mutated by crossing the red-fruited Bourbon species with a yellow-fruited Typica variety called "Amerelo de Botocatu" (discovered in Sao Paulo in 1871). Because of its low yield and relatively intolerant to wind and rain, it is not widely cultivated. However, when grown at high altitudes, it will have an excellent flavor and obvious sweetness.
Front Street Queens Estate Coffee Beans
Production area: Brazil Morgiana production area
Manor: Queen's Manor
Altitude: 1400m - 1950m
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing: Sun-Dried Flavors: Nuts, Buttered Peanuts, Cane Sugar, Fermented Fruit
3. Colombia: Caturra
Caturra is a single-gene variant of Bourbon that was discovered in Brazil in 1937. It has better productivity and disease resistance than Bourbon, and its trees are shorter, making it easier to harvest. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it suffers from the cycle of fluctuations in productivity every two years. However, its flavor is comparable to that of bourbon beans. More importantly, it is highly adaptable and does not require shade trees, so it is also called Sun Coffee. It can adapt to high-density planting, but requires more fertilization, which increases the cost of planting.
Front Street Cymbidium coffee beans
Production area: Huilan production area in Colombia
Altitude: 1500 meters - 1800 meters
Breed: Catura
Treatment method: water washing method
Brewing flavor: Nuts, dark chocolate, caramel, soft acidity
4. Brazil: Catuai
Carduai is a cross bred in Brazil in 1950 through Caturra and New World. Kaduai inherits the New World’s attributes of high yield, strong disease resistance, and good cupping variety, and it inherits the small size, high-quality acidity, and sun-exposed coffee attributes of Kaduai. Since the plants are smaller, they can be planted at twice the density. The Kaduai flavor is characterized by soft acidity and clean taste with rich fruit aromas.
5. Kenya: Sl28 & SL34
SL28 is one of the famous coffee varieties in Africa. SL28 was selected for research breeding at the former Scott Agricultural Laboratory (now the National Agricultural Laboratory). This variety has good drought resistance, tolerates drought, diseases and insect pests, and is suitable for planting in mid-to-high altitude areas, but is susceptible to common diseases.
SL34 was also selected and bred by the former Scott Agricultural Laboratory in the late 1930s. At that time, researchers selected trees prefixed with SL in plantations and studied their yield, quality, drought resistance, and disease resistance.
SL28 has a similar flavor to SL34, but SL34 has richer acidity and a richer taste. However, both varieties have a uniquely Kenyan flavour, with rich acidity and a balanced taste.
Front Street Kenyan Cherry Tomato Coffee Beans
Production area: Asali processing plant in Thika production area, Kenya
Altitude: 1550 meters - 1750 meters
Variety: SL28, SL34
Treatment method: K72 water washing treatment
Flavor description: Black plum, cherry tomato, snow pear, brown sugar, Bolin
6. Panama: Geisha
Gesha is a genetic variant of Typica that originated in the Gesha Forest of Ethiopia. After decades of artificial cultivation, it spread to Panama in the 1960s. It was discovered and independently cultivated by Jade Manor. It won the BOP in 2004 and became an instant hit, setting multiple price auction records. It has the fragrance of jasmine, the sweetness of citrus, the rich floral and fruity aroma and the taste of tea.
Front Street Emerald Estate Red Label Gesha Coffee Beans
Region: Panama Poquete Emerald Estate
Plot: Jaramillo Mario
Altitude: 1700m
Variety: Geisha
Treatment method: Sun treatment
Flavor description: citrus, complex fruit, rose tea, honey
7. Ethiopia: Native variety (Heirloom)
The word "Heirloom" refers to "the country's coffee variety" in Ethiopia. Many small coffee farmers in Ethiopia plant multiple varieties at the same time in their backyards. Of course, there are also coffee farmers who select the better varieties to grow and sell. Since most of the local coffee is in a wild or semi-wild state and the population is huge, not every household can carefully distinguish the varieties.
Therefore, most coffee varieties are planted and harvested in a mixed manner, so many coffee beans in Ethiopia are mixed together. Since specialty coffee needs to list coffee varieties, Ethiopia named these natural mixed varieties Heirloom. Because it is a mixture of multiple varieties, the Ethiopian coffee beans have particles that look different in size, while showing bright citrus acidity and green tea-like sweetness.
Front Street Yirgacheffe Cooperative Coffee Beans
Origin: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
Cooperative: Guodingding Cooperative
Altitude: 2000m - 2100m
Variety: Local native species
Processing method: washed
Flavor: citrus, black tea, floral, cream, caramel, almond
8. Yunnan: Catimor
In the 1970s and 1980s, coffee leaf rust broke out in many countries in Central and South America, seriously affecting coffee production. In response to coffee leaf rust, CIFC, a coffee research center in Portugal, crossed Timor with Robusta genes and Caturra, a Bourbon variant, in 1959 to create Catimor, which is disease-resistant and high-yielding.
Due to the Robusta gene, Catim's flavor performance is not as good as other common Arabica varieties, but it still has plum-like acidity and nutty aroma. At the same time, the planting cost is low and the harvest is large. In 1952, scientific and technical personnel from the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences distributed 80kg of coffee seeds to farmers in Lujiangba, Baoshan for trial planting. They found that the seeds had good adaptability and excellent quality, and coffee cultivation in Yunnan once again developed and expanded. By 1988, Nestlé established a new joint venture in China to promote coffee planting projects and introduced the high-yielding Catim variety. This move greatly promoted the large-scale coffee planting in Yunnan. Therefore, Katim is widely cultivated in the Yunnan region of China.
Front Street Yunnan Baoshan Katim coffee beans
Region: Lujiang Dam, Baoshan, Yunnan, China
Altitude: 1450-1550m
Breed: Catim
Processing method: red cherries sun-dried
Flavor Description: Nuts, chocolate, spice, caramel, red berries, plums
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
