Varieties, vintages and assemblies of coffees

As for the Wine S, the Café S present a range of savors which depend on the species and of the variety (the equivalent of the Cépage S for the wine), of the origin and the quality of preparation of the grains (vintages) and possibly of the assemblies carried out (the blends ).

Arabicas ( Coffea arabica )

The species counts more than 200 varieties, among which:

Blue Mountain (Jamaica): area of the Blue Mountains, in the east of the island. It is a coffee of great reputation, which reaches prices very high on the market (selling price with the detail approaching the 100 €/kg);
pointed Bourbon (Meeting) or coffee Leroy : old variety resulting from a change (known as Laurina ) selected in 1810 with the Meeting in the Leroy plantation. The coffee-tree has a conical form, the cherries are rather pointed and the grains are clearly lengthened and finish at a peak. The productivity is rather low. It produces a fine coffee with cafeine low level (0,7%). Today almost disappeared, its culture is started again with the Réunion but also in Guadeloupe and New Caledonia from the point of view of a top-of-the-range production;
Harrar (Ethiopia): area of Harar;
Huehuetenango (Guatemala): cultivated with more than 1500 m of altitude, in the north of the country, in one of the most isolated areas of culture;
Java (Indonesia): island of Java. This coffee was diffused so much at a certain time that the term java in English slang became synonymous with coffee;
Kenya AA (Kenya): mention AA corresponds to a rank of quality in the Kenyan system of quotation. This coffee can come from any district of the country. It is famous and required for its acidulous taste;
Kona (Hawaii): cultivated on the slopes of the Hualalai in the district of Kona on the island of Hawaii;
Kontir Wild Forest (Ethiopia): comes from the forest of Kontir in the area of Djimmah, in the south-west of the country, an altitude of 1400-1600 meters;
Maragogype (Brazil): The grains of this variety are 2 to 3 times larger than the traditional grains. Its taste fine and is scented. Its reputation and the decline of its culture makes a rather expensive arabica of it. This variety draws its name from a city of Brazil (Maragogipe);
Mocha coffee (Yemen): name of the town of Mocha coffee, the oldest port of shipment for the trade of the coffee. It is a noble coffee, with the wild taste, not to confuse with the mixture of coffee and cocoa, also called mocha coffee;
Peaberry (Tanzania): cultivated on the slopes of the Mount Kilimandjaro. This coffee is made exclusively of nontwin grains (only one grain present in coffee cherry instead of the two usual ones). Harvest comprises naturally approximately 10% of them that it is necessary to sort;
Tarrazu (Costa Rica): valley of Tarrazu, in the highlands close to San Jose, typically that of the field of Minita ;
Toraja Kalossi (Indonesia): mountains of the island of Célèbes (Sulawesi);
Yirgacheffe (Ethiopia): surroundings of the town of Yirga Cheffe in the Sidamo (maintaining the area administrative of Oromia).

Mixtures

Colombian Mixture : a washed coffee assembly of Colombia, Kenya and of Tanzania;
Mocha coffee-Java : one of the oldest traditional mixtures.

Robustas ( Coffea will canephora )

In general the robustas, richer in cafeine, more productive, less fragile but goûteux than the arabicas are reserved for a production of ordinary quality allowing the cheap coffee diffusion. It is thus rare that one seeks to distinguish the various origins from robustas.
However the robusta is essential to the clothes industry of a good espresso because it is him which gives famous foam characteristic of this coffee serré.
In fact nevertheless robustas are at the origin of the most expensive coffees of the world (about 250 euros/kg). They are very particular coffees because the grains are collected in the excrements of an Asian chive, the Luwak ( Paradoxurus hermaphroditus ). It is the enzymatic change of the grains in the digestive system of the animal which develops a single flavor with the chocolate and caramel accents. These coffees are known under the names of:

Kopi Luwak (in Indonesia)
Kape Alamid (with the Filipino ).

Other species

Coffee of Liberia ( Coffea liberica )

This species, without much gustatory interest, is originating in the area of Monrovia. It is cultivated in and product West Africa of the grains of large size. It was also tried in other areas of the world as in Indonesia, but the commercial interest hardly perduré and this coffee-tree showed in addition invading for the natural environments. The coffee of Liberia is mainly used for the preparation of the instant coffees and accounts for approximately 1% of the world commerce.

Others

Coffea bengalensis , cultivated with the Bangladesh, the Myanmar, Sumatra and sometimes in India,
Coffea congensis , originating in the Congo, probably a form of robusta ( Coffea will canephora ),
Coffea eugenioides , originating in the area of the lake Kivu, probably the shape of arabica ( Coffea arabica ), with low level of cafeine,
Coffea excelsa , or coffee of the Chad, coffee produced by a genuine tree, of poor quality,
Coffea racemosa , originating in the Mozambique, locally used
Coffea stenophylla , originating in Sierra Leone, occasionally cultivated in West Africa, near arabica but a little aromatic,
Coffea zanguebariae , originating in Tanzania, locally cultivated and used, near to the arabica
Skybury , originating in Australia (north-eastern), resulting from seedlings of Bourbon and Catuaï.

Special coffees

Coffee vanilla : mix coffee and of powder vanilla, speciality of the Réunion.

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