Coffee plant:
Origins and spread
The terminology of coffee varieties can be confusing, overlapping and sometimes similar, especially for the average buyer. Here are the terms in the world of coffee according to the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).
Type- SPECIES
It is defined as a group of sexually reproducing organisms (i.e. higher plants, such as coffee) that are similar in shape and adaptation and are able to mate with each other and produce a generation under natural conditions. Species consist of individuals that can reproduce with each other to produce a viable generation, such as: (Arabica - Canephora).
COFFEE
The plant genus is colloquially referred to as (coffee genus).
Which consists of more than 100 individual species and 130 varieties, these are generally evergreen shrubs or small trees with a horizontal branching pattern, containing a pair of seeds, flat on one side and convex on the other, with a slit in the flat side (coffee beans),
Tropical forests are the preferred habitat for most coffee plants.
Variety
A plant variety is a rank in the taxonomic hierarchy below the main species and subspecies, has a distinct appearance from other varieties, and has been hybridized with other varieties. Varieties are very important in the global coffee landscape, as some varieties have high yields, others have a unique flavor, and others grow best in a particular climate. Varieties are what occur through natural mutations such as (Catura).
Varieties often occur in nature and can be hybridized with other varieties.
The nursery – CULTVAR
It is a variety produced by gardening or agricultural techniques, and is not usually found in natural populations. Most of the varieties we know in specialty coffee are actually cultivated varieties, and can be selected from cultivated stock or from wild species. It is an organized group of cultivated plants characterized by clarity, uniformity and stability in their characteristics, and retains good characteristics when cultivated appropriately, such as (Bourbon and Tipica).
Hybrid
It is the offspring of two plants of different species, varieties or strains. The hybrid plant arises through cross-pollination of different species. Hybrid plants are compatible only between different species (compared to hybrids within individuals of the same species), such as: (Mondonovo).
Ben Eugenides - EUGENIOIDES COFFEE
This species is native to the highlands of East Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and western Tanzania, and is known as one of the parents of Arabica coffee, and contains less caffeine than Arabica and is now grown in Colombia.
Arabica Coffee
The genus and species of the Arabica coffee plant are known as Coffea arabica (C.arabica).
It originated in the forests of Ethiopia and South Sudan, then started in Yemen and spread all over the world.
Ben Canephora - COFFEE CANEPHORA
The species canephora, commercially known as Robusta, is one of the parents of Arabica coffee. This species originated in West and Central Africa, south of the Sahara. Robusta is more commercially productive per tree than Arabica, and differs from it in terms of physical and chemical properties and caffeine content.