Plant index
Coffee Varieties and Species
The coffee plants behind the cup: arabica varieties from Typica to Geisha, and the other species, from robusta to stenophylla.
Most specialty coffee comes from one species, Coffea arabica, but within it are dozens of varieties with different yields, disease resistance and flavor potential. Robusta and a handful of other species make up the rest of what the world drinks.
These entries explain where each variety came from, where it is grown and how it is usually described. Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is traditionally Typica, one of the oldest arabica varieties.
Species (6)
- Arabica Coffee vs Robusta, Liberica and ExcelsaA clear comparison of arabica, robusta, liberica and excelsa coffee, plus what "100% arabica" actually promises on a label.
- Eugenioides CoffeeCoffea eugenioides is one of arabica's two wild parent species, naturally very low in caffeine and essentially absent from commercial coffee production.
- Excelsa CoffeeExcelsa is a tart, chocolatey coffee reclassified as a liberica variety in 2006 and then split back into its own species by 2025 genomic research.
- Liberica CoffeeLiberica (Coffea liberica) is a rare, giant-beaned coffee species known as kapeng barako in the Philippines, with a fruity, full-bodied cup and under 2% of world output.
- Robusta Coffee: What It Is and Where It GrowsRobusta (Coffea canephora) is the higher-caffeine, hardier coffee species behind instant coffee and espresso blends, grown mainly in Vietnam, Brazil and Uganda.
- Stenophylla: The Rediscovered Coffee SpeciesStenophylla is a once-abandoned West African coffee species rediscovered in Sierra Leone, with arabica-like flavor and notable heat tolerance, per 2021 research.
Varieties (15)
- Bourbon: The Coffee VarietyBourbon is the arabica variety isolated on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion for over a century, later spreading through Latin America and producing Caturra and Catuaí.
- Castillo CoffeeCastillo is a coffee-leaf-rust-resistant arabica variety bred by Colombia's Cenicafé and released in 2005, and its cup quality has been debated ever since.
- Catimor and Sarchimor CoffeeCatimor and Sarchimor are rust-resistant coffee hybrids bred by crossing the Timor Hybrid with Caturra and Villa Sarchi, now grown from Latin America to Yunnan.
- Catuaí CoffeeCatuaí is a compact hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra bred in Brazil in 1949, grown today in yellow and red forms across Brazil and Central America.
- Caturra CoffeeCaturra is a naturally dwarf Bourbon mutation discovered in Brazil in the early 1900s that became one of Latin America's most widely planted coffee varieties.
- Ethiopian Heirloom (Landrace) Coffee"Heirloom" is the catch-all term for Ethiopia's thousands of native coffee varieties, most still without formal genetic identification.
- Laurina (Bourbon Pointu): The Low-Caffeine ArabicaLaurina, also called Bourbon Pointu, is a naturally low-caffeine mutation of Bourbon coffee grown on Réunion Island since the early 1700s.
- Maragogype: The Elephant BeanMaragogype is a natural Typica mutation discovered in Brazil in 1870, nicknamed the elephant bean for producing some of arabica coffee's largest beans.
- Mundo Novo CoffeeMundo Novo is a natural Typica-Bourbon cross discovered in Brazil and released in 1952, valued for its vigor, high yield and role in Catuaí's creation.
- Pacamara CoffeePacamara is a large-beaned coffee variety bred in El Salvador in 1958 by crossing Pacas and Maragogipe, now prized in specialty markets and Cup of Excellence.
- Pink Bourbon CoffeePink Bourbon is a pink-cherried variety from Colombia's Huila department whose genetic identity is still debated, prized by specialty buyers for its distinctive cup.
- Sidra CoffeeSidra is a fruit-forward Ecuadorian coffee variety with a disputed genetic origin and multiple World Barista Championship wins to its name.
- SL28 and SL34: Kenya's Famous VarietiesSL28 and SL34 are two arabica varieties selected in 1930s Kenya by Scott Agricultural Laboratories that still define much of the country's celebrated coffee flavor.
- Typica: The Original Arabica VarietyTypica is the oldest cultivated arabica variety, the tall, low-yielding plant that carried coffee from Yemen to the Americas and remains Jamaica Blue Mountain's traditional variety.
- Wush Wush CoffeeWush Wush is an Ethiopian landrace coffee now grown as a specialty variety in Colombia, prized for an unusually wide, fruit-driven flavor range.