Where coffee is grown has a big effect on how it tastes, and so there are numerous varieties of coffee which come from many different coffee producing regions around the world. If you buy green coffee beans to roast at home, search around to find out which type of coffee you prefer – there are so many to choose from, with unique blends of flavours and aromas.
The most common and most popular types of coffee come from the coffea arabica species of plant, which is considered to be richer than (and of superior quality to) coffee beans from the coffee robusta varieties.
Coffea arabica has many, many different varieties. One of the better known ones is Columbian coffee, which is famous for being wonderfully aromatic and quite heavy in body. Aside from Brazil, Columbia is the largest coffee exporter in the world – so you know it’s good! Another well-known coffea arabica comes from Java coffee. Java is an island in Indonesia, and its coffee was once traded so widely and on such a large scale that the name “Java” became synonymous with “coffee” - which explains why we nowadays commonly talk about “java” when we mean coffee.
Coffee growing is no easy task. The conditions must be just right, for a start. Coffee grows best on high ground, which is why many popular coffees come from mountainous regions. It also requires plenty of sunshine, and can’t be grown at all in a country where there’s a winter frost. Consider how long it takes the coffee plant to reach the point of being able to produce the green beans that we need in order to be able to create our favourite hot beverage: the coffee tree will grow for up to five years before eventually flowering and bearing fruits. Coffee beans originally take the form of berries, which need to ripen for around nine months before they can be picked and processed into the form of green coffee beans, which we can then roast and grind in order to prepare a coffee drink. If there are ideal growing conditions (as there are in, say, Java), coffee can be planted all the year around, which means that the beans can then be harvested continually as well. However, in places like Brazil, where conditions are slightly less favourable, coffee harvesting is seasonal and occurs only in the winter time.
Coffea robusta (or coffea canephora) is somewhat easier to grow than coffea arabica – and it’s cheaper to grow, too. It is mostly grown in Brazil and Africa, and tends to be of lower quality as far as coffee enthusiasts are concerned. This is why you’ll usually find coffea robusta varieties being used in low-grade blends of coffee, as a filler. However, it does have its plus points – such as containing about twice as much caffeine as coffea arabica blends! This makes it quite a good choice for espresso blends. Coffea robusta is also commonly used in instant coffee blends.
Within the two main species of coffee plant, though, there are lots and lots of varieties, and coffee experts differentiate between them in much the same way as wine experts describe the different tastes, aromas and textures of wines. Words like “fruity”, full-bodied”, “earthy” and “citrus” are commonly used in describing blends of coffee. It’s much more than just a plain old hot beverage!
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