Varieties
- Arabica is a species; Typica, Bourbon, SL28 and Gesha are varieties within it.
- Most arabica outside Ethiopia descends from a few trees taken out of Yemen.
- Leaf rust pushed breeders to robusta genes: Catimors, Sarchimors, now F1 hybrids.
A species, then a family tree
Arabica is a species. A variety is a line within it — Typica, Bourbon, Gesha — the way a Granny Smith is an apple. Arabica itself began as a natural cross between robusta and another wild coffee.
Out of Yemen: Typica and Bourbon
Nearly all arabica grown outside Ethiopia descends from a few trees taken out of Yemen from the late 1600s. Two lines went abroad, and most of the famous names descend from them. Tap a name to follow it.
- Typica: Baba Budan is said to have carried seven seeds from Yemen to India in the 1600s. The Dutch took Malabar coffee to Java, then the Americas.
- Bourbon: Went to the island now called Réunion, then on to Brazil around 1860. Many Latin American classics descend from it.
- Caturra: A compact Bourbon mutant that turned up in Brazil in the 1910s. One gene made it small, so farms can plant more trees.
Two celebrated names
Growers choose a variety for yield, height, disease resistance and cup, and rarely get all four. SL28 was selected in Kenya in 1935; Gesha, collected in the 1930s, broke auction records in the mid-2000s. Both yield little.
Leaf rust, and what it cost
Leaf rust is a fungus that spots the leaves and strips the tree. From 1869 it took Ceylon’s coffee apart, and the island turned to tea.
Why hybrids exist
In the 1920s a natural arabica–robusta cross turned up on Timor, with robusta’s resistance. Breeders crossed it with Caturra for Catimors and with Villa Sarchi for Sarchimors: tougher, higher-yielding trees, the cup usually a step behind.
What a breeder gives up
A variety bred for high yield and rust resistance usually gives up…
Answer: Some of its cup quality. Some cup quality. Catimors and Sarchimors are tougher and higher-yielding than the classics, and the cup is usually a step behind.
Who trades what
Join each variety to what it is known for.
- Typica — Fine cup, small crop
- SL28 — Exceptional cup, low yield
- Catimor — High yield, rust resistance
- Centroamericano — F1 hybrid, grown from clones
The classics give a fine cup and little fruit; Catimors trade some cup for yield and resistance; F1 hybrids such as Centroamericano aim at all three.
Narrow genes
Cultivated arabica has less genetic diversity than almost any other major crop, so a disease that beats one tree can beat millions. And rust evolves: some Catimors that once shrugged it off no longer do.
The newer bet
The newer bet is F1 hybrids such as Centroamericano, first-generation crosses with an Ethiopian parent, bred for yield, resistance and cup. Their seeds don’t breed true, so nurseries clone them.
Why nurseries clone
Why do nurseries grow F1 hybrids from cuttings rather than seed?
Answer: Their seeds do not breed true, so only a clone keeps the hybrid’s yield, resistance and cup. Centroamericano is grown this way.
“Arabica, like many an old family, is short of cousins, and the rust, I fear, has noticed.”