Coffee Varieties
The Genus Coffea
For the interested coffee lover, it is not insignificant to deal a little with the botany of coffee. This will give you an overview of what kind of plant coffee is, its growing conditions and the requirements for cultivating coffee. For this purpose, the coffee tree must first be classified botanically. Natural science uses a system that groups and classifies groups.
For coffee, this looks like this:
- Group: Phanerogams ( seeds or flowering plants)
- Subgroup: Angiosperms (angiosperms)
- Class: Dicotyledons (Dicotyledons)
- Subclass: Sympetals (Verwachsenblumenblättrige)
- Family: Rubiaceae (bedstraw family)
- Genus: Coffea (Coffee)
- Species: e.g.: Coffea Arabica - Coffea Robusta two of the best known types of coffee
- Subspecies (varieties):
- for C. Arabica e.g.: Bourbon, Mocha, Tipica
- for C. Canephora e.g.: Robusta
Coffee is a cultivated plant, so it is mainly grown on plantations. Wild coffee (known as heirloom) is mainly found in its native Ethiopia and in the Congo region. The classification of the species is mainly important for determining the taste characteristics of the coffee.
In the following, we will focus on the best known:
Arabica (Coffea Arabica)
The typical shape of the Arabica bean is oval, rather flat and with an S-shaped cut in the middle.
Robusta (Coffea Canephora)
The Robusta bean is rather small, round, has a pole tip and a straight cut.