Variety Encyclopedia
Every coffee variety has a story — where it was discovered, how it mutated, what it tastes like. This is the most comprehensive variety guide outside the World Coffee Research catalog.
Gesha (Geisha)
The variety that broke the price ceiling. Gesha produces the most floral, complex cups in existence — but it's fragile, low-yielding, and demands perfect conditions.
Jasmine, bergamot, stone fruit, tea-like body. The most celebrated variety in specialty coffee.
SL28
SL28 is arguably the world's greatest coffee variety for cup quality. Its acidity is legendary — bright, complex, and almost savory.
Blackcurrant, grapefruit, tomato, sparkling acidity. The electric guitar of coffee.
SL34
Often blended with SL28 in Kenyan lots, SL34 adds body and depth to the cup.
Heavy body, citrus, dark fruit, winey. The bass to SL28's treble.
Bourbon
Bourbon is the backbone of specialty coffee. Nearly every great variety traces its lineage back to Bourbon or Typica.
Sweet, complex, balanced acidity. The gold standard for quality.
Pink Bourbon
Nobody knows exactly what Pink Bourbon is. Genetic testing shows it's not a simple Bourbon mutation. Whatever it is, the cup is extraordinary.
Floral, peachy, silky body, rosewater. Ethereal.
Sidra
Sidra is rewriting what Colombian coffee can be. A natural hybrid that produces Ethiopian-like complexity at Latin American altitudes.
Lychee, cider apple, cream, floral honey. Ethiopian-like from Latin America.
Typica
The original. Typica is the ancestor of most cultivated coffee varieties. Low-yielding and disease-prone, but the cup is clean and sweet.
Clean, sweet, mild acidity. The quiet classic.
Caturra
Caturra made specialty coffee economically viable. Higher yields than Bourbon with nearly the same cup quality.
Bright acidity, medium body, citrus. Bourbon's productive cousin.
Catuaí
Catuaí is the Toyota Camry of coffee varieties — reliable, productive, and capable of surprising quality in the right hands.
Sweet, balanced, nutty. The reliable workhorse.
Pacamara
Pacamara produces enormous beans and equally oversized flavors. A competition darling that rewards altitude and careful processing.
Complex, chocolatey, citrus, creamy body. The gentle giant.
Castillo
Castillo was bred for disease resistance and dismissed by specialty snobs. But in the right hands, it produces cups that rival Bourbon.
Clean, sweet, balanced. Better than its reputation.
Yemeni Heirloom (Udaini/Dawairi)
Coffee was born in Yemen. These varieties have been growing in the same mountains for centuries, producing flavors that exist nowhere else.
Dried fruit, spice, wine, chocolate. Tastes like history.
Ethiopian Heirloom
'Ethiopian Heirloom' is a catch-all for thousands of unclassified wild varieties. Ethiopia has more coffee genetic diversity than the rest of the world combined.
Floral, fruity, complex. The motherlode of genetic diversity.
Maragogipe
The elephant bean. Maragogipe produces the largest coffee beans in the world — nearly twice the size of normal beans.
Mild, sweet, tea-like. Gentle giant.
Java
Java is one of the oldest named coffee varieties, brought to Indonesia by Dutch colonists. It still grows on the volcanic slopes of Java island.
Herbal, spicy, heavy body. Old-world character.
Catimor
Catimor is the controversial workhorse — Robusta genes give it disease resistance but can add harshness. At high altitude with careful processing, it surprises.
Variable — can be harsh at low altitude, clean at high altitude.
Robusta (Canephora)
Robusta is the other coffee species. It's 40% of world production, mostly used for instant coffee and espresso blends. But specialty Robusta is emerging as a legitimate category.
Woody, rubbery, bitter, earthy. Some specialty Robustas show chocolate and spice.
Liberica
Liberica is the third species of commercial coffee. In the Philippines it's called 'Barako' and has a cult following. The flavor is unlike any Arabica or Robusta.
Jackfruit, floral, woody, smoky. Polarizing and unique.
Eugenioides
Eugenioides is one of Arabica's parent species. It produces the sweetest coffee you'll ever taste — almost zero bitterness. Incredibly rare and expensive.
Extremely sweet, tea-like, almost no bitterness. Like drinking candy.
Wush Wush
Named after the forest where it was found, Wush Wush is gaining attention as a Gesha alternative — similar floral complexity at a fraction of the price.
Tropical, complex, tea-like. Gesha's wild cousin.
Red Bourbon
Red Bourbon is the original cherry color of the Bourbon variety. Many consider it the purest expression of Bourbon's legendary sweetness.
Sweet, fruity, complex acidity. The purest Bourbon expression.
Yellow Bourbon
Yellow Bourbon is Brazil's signature variety. The yellow cherry mutation produces a sweeter, less acidic cup that's perfect for espresso.
Sweet, nutty, low acidity, chocolatey. Brazil's pride.
Mundo Novo
Mundo Novo is Brazil's workhorse variety — productive, disease-tolerant, and capable of clean, sweet cups that form the backbone of many espresso blends.
Clean, sweet, full body. The reliable Brazilian.
Laurina (Bourbon Pointu)
Laurina is nature's low-caffeine coffee — about half the caffeine of normal Arabica, with a delicate, sweet cup that puts chemical decaf to shame.
Delicate, sweet, tea-like, floral. The decaf that isn't.
Tabi
Tabi proves that disease resistance and cup quality aren't mutually exclusive. A Colombian success story.
Sweet, clean, fruity. Disease-resistant quality.