{"id":285,"date":"2008-10-01T16:26:49","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T23:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/cqtwo\/?p=285"},"modified":"2008-10-01T16:26:49","modified_gmt":"2008-10-01T23:26:49","slug":"coffee-categories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cqtwo\/2008\/10\/01\/coffee-categories\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee categories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Origin<\/strong>\"La<\/a><\/p>\n

Descriptions of coffee origin can vary widely, from the very specific (“La Minita Coffee Estate, Tarrazu, Costa Rica”) to the generic (“Columbian”) to non-existent.\u00a0 Indeed, most coffee is not described by origin and is in fact a blend of coffees from a variety of locations.\u00a0 There’s nothing wrong with blends <\/a>— think wine n\u00e9gociants in the Rh\u00f4ne — but there’s also lots to like about knowing exactly where your beans come from.<\/p>\n

Species<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Coffea genus is taxonomically complex with wide variations within species and even between related individuals but the two most widely cultivated species are Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora var. robusta.\u00a0 They’re commonly referred to as arabica and robusta.<\/p>\n

Arabica is normally considered the finer of the two and it will be occasionally called out, especially in cheaper blends (100% arabica!).\u00a0 It has half as much caffeine as robusta and accounts for about two-thirds of world coffee production.\u00a0 Robusta, from west Africa, is grown primarily grown there and in Brazil and Vietnam — the latter being the world’s largest coffee exporter.\u00a0 You can see the production breakout by country at the International Coffee Organization<\/a> site; the blue column on the left has production by a\/r (arabica or robusta) worldwide.<\/p>\n

Varietal<\/strong><\/p>\n

The coffee varietal is analagous to wine varietals like zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, mourvedre, etc.\u00a0 Arabica varietals include typica, geisha, pacamara, and bourbon, although there are many many more.\u00a0 Stumptown<\/a> has a good description of coffee varietals.\u00a0 Note that robusta is technically a varietal of C. canephora.<\/p>\n

Growing method<\/strong> (non-exclusive)<\/p>\n

Organic, fair trade, shade grown, and so on.\u00a0 I’m not going to go all Wendell Berry on you here; suffice to note that some of these terms have specific designations and certifications and others may tend to be more aspirational.<\/p>\n

Other green coffee characteristics<\/strong><\/p>\n

You occasionally see terms such as “SHB” for Strictly Hard Bean (grown at altitude) or peaberry<\/a>, for a smaller rounder bean.<\/p>\n

Roast<\/strong><\/p>\n

Light to dark, reflecting the amount of time that the green coffee bean has been heated in a coffee roaster.\u00a0 A variety of terms<\/a> are used to describe roasts, including:<\/p>\n