Species or varieties
coffee plants
Coffee plants belong to the botanical genus Coffea of the Rubiaceae family, using the species C. arabica (Arabica coffee) and C. canephora (Robusta coffee) from Africa, and to a lesser extent the species C .liberica and C. excelsa.
These are shrubs up to 4 m tall (cut back to a lower height in the plantations) with white flowers. The fruits are ripe 6 to 8 months after fertilization in C. arabica and 9 to 11 months in C. robusta. Stone fruits are formed, which change color from green to yellow to red as they ripen and contain two seeds, the coffee beans.
In the fruit, the coffee beans are surrounded by a so-called silver skin and around it a so-called parchment skin. Bushes that are 3 to 4 years old provide the first yields, but the yield per bush decreases from the age of around 20 years.
(Source: Wikipedia – https://de.wikipedia.org
* Arabica coffee has a world market share of approximately 60% of the coffee produced. This type of bean, which contains only half the caffeine of the Robusta bean, has become popular and famous mainly for its aroma.
* Robusta accounts for around 36% of world production. Visually, this type of bean differs from the Arabica with a wavy incision in the bean with a straight incision. This variety is particularly appreciated by farmers for its resistance and its shorter ripening time (compared to Arabica).
* Excelsa is considered a bean rarity and was found in 1904 on Lake Chad. It has the strongest growth of all bean varieties. Above all, it is characterized by its ability to thrive on drier soil and to generate a satisfactory yield even in years with little rain. Nevertheless, it only accounts for around 1% of world production.
* Stenophylla This particularly small-leaved plant from West Africa (Guinea and Sierra Leone) can be planted at up to 700 m above sea level. In Sierra Leone, the well-known “Highland Coffee” is made with this variety. The beans are round and large, the fruits turn black as they ripen.
* Maragogype A mutation from the Arabica bean or, according to another theory, a cross between the Arabica and Liberica beans. The beans are a third larger than the usual coffee beans. The variety is mainly grown in Mexico and Nicaragua. The variety thrives best at altitudes of 400m to 1,200m. Despite its size, the crop yield is typically lower than other coffee varieties.
* In Vietnam, cà phê su+~a ?á is a coffee blend that contains the well-known Robusta and Arabica types as well as the Catimor and Chari types. It is a very dark coffee with a slightly nutty-chocolate taste. These coffee blends contain the types mentioned in different mixing ratios and rarely also contain Excelsa or Liberica beans. Due to the idea of the coffee taste there, these mixtures cover the largest part of the coffee requirement there. Blends that contain the types of coffee mentioned, which are rather unknown on the world market, are only available outside of Vietnam as imported items in Asian shops. Due to its very low caffeine content, Chari coffee is also offered as a natural gentle coffee that does not need to be decaffeinated.
* The Indonesian Kopi Luwak is the rarest and most expensive type of coffee in the world. It occurs when the Luwak civet eats coffee cherries and excretes beans whose flavor properties have changed as a result of fermentation in the animals’ intestines. Among other things, bitter substances are removed from them.