There are two main species of coffee: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica beans account for a majority of the coffee produced and sold in the world today. Within these two main coffee species there are many varietals. We will mainly be exploring those included in the Arabica coffee species, as these are primarily what you would find available for purchase. All of our coffees here are Redber are 100% Arabica, and within this we have many different types of Arabica beans.
Like most species, Coffee has a long ancestral line. Ethiopia is widely renowned as the birthplace of coffee but throughout history it has made its journey all over the world. Needing to learn to adapt to different environments with vastly different climates, altitudes, soil fertilities and often hostile conditions different varieties of the fruit have had to evolve. This gives us the wonderfully eclectic assortment of shapes, flavours and aromas, we find in coffee beans today.
Legend has it that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia by a Goat Herder named Kaldi - Find out more Here
Different countries will, for the most part, have a particular species of coffee bean growing amongst them since these will be best suited to their climates such as the Catuai and Caturra varieties most common in Brazil and other Latin American farms. This largely is the reason when you ask a person their favourite coffee they will often reply with a country name rather than a region or brand.
When divulging yourself into the world of speciality coffee, the main focus is Arabica coffee strains. Bourbon and Typica are the two main Arabica ‘parent’ varieties. Each of these and their descendants have unique styles and complexities. Bourbon comes from the island Réunion (named Île Bourbon pre-1789) and this is the cultivar in which we get our more classic coffee flavours such as chocolates, nutty and smooth flavours. Bourbon is also often easy to grow and produces much higher yields. Typica also originates from a different part of Yemen. These plants are much more difficult to grow and produce small yields, however the result is worth the hard times. Often the result is an immensely complex coffee giving outstandingly sweet and clean cups.
Throughout the past two centuries these varieties have been meticulously bred on a pursuit to find the perfect species. Every person has different and unique tastes, so this pursuit may never end, however thankfully for coffee lovers this does mean that the world of coffee will always continue to amaze and excite senses with always changing crops and entirely new coffee breeds being created.
Our aim at Redber is to be able to accommodate for all tastes and be somewhat of a sweet shop for coffee. We too have an ever-growing range of coffees all unique and of different species and to make life simpler we categorized these below.
