If you have shopped in a supermarket for coffee, then you would be exposed to the coffee bean types that are showcased on its shelving. Based on that, there are easily 20-30 varieties of coffee. So, you must be thinking if I would have the space to squeeze all those information into this article. Well, the fact is I would probably need only a few paragraphs to share with you on the types of beans available. This is because there are only 2 varieties of the beans, the rest are more of the grading and brands of the coffee. And if you are a coffee drinker, chances are you would have heard of these two names before, although this would not be something that you can read about in those coffee make ratings or reviews. The first name or type of coffee that I am highlighting make up 70% of the world consumption of coffee and its scientific name is Coffea Arabica. The market calls it Arabica and of the two types of coffee beans, this is the one that is highly favored. It is also much more costly than the other one due to its unique growing conditions. For Arabica coffee plants to thrive, you would need at altitude of at least a thousand meter and the temperature cannot go beyond 20 degree Celsius. In comparison, the second type of coffee that makes up the 30% of the coffee consumption can be grown in temperature as high as 27 degree Celsius and almost any grounds. It is very hardy but coffee drinkers do not like the bitterness that is associated with this type of coffee. Its scientific name is Coffea Canephora and most of us know it by the name Robusta. This coffee is considered to be inferior to Arabica and is seldom sold by itself. The only genre of products that has these beans by itself is processed coffee or canned coffee that does not has a strong focus on the flavor of the beans. Other than processed coffee, the other uses for these coffee beans is to be filler for Arabica beans, which because of its higher pricing one packet would usually be packed with a generous dose of Robusta to make it affordable to consumers. If you read the labels in the supermarket, you would always see a brand name followed by the coffee blend and the roasting method. Very rarely, you would see either type of coffee beans by itself. Then what about the Blue Mountains, Kenya AA or the Kona coffee? The fact is, all these are Arabica coffee beans, but they are prized for the locality which they are being grown in. It is more of a brand rather than a type of coffee. Take for example, the Jamaican Blue Mountains coffee that is known for its mild flavor that has no bitter taste. This is possible because of the cool and misty climate that is exclusive to the blue mountain area. So, folks looking for this particular taste of coffee would look for this range of coffee beans. Similarly, Kenya coffee would have a different taste and so would the beans that are grown in other parts of the world. Now you know that if you are talking about types of coffee beans, there are only two. But, if you are looking for brands of coffee beans that come with its unique taste profile, there are many and it would take more than an article to categorize them.
Author:
ebenezer heng
