Let’s Start with the Basics: A Full List of All Known Coffee Species
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For the first official entry in the Northshore Specialty Journal, we thought we’d kick off with a little botany lesson.
Let’s go on a little trip down memory lane to Biology class to rediscover the TAXONOMY HIERARCHY. It goes a little like this (moving from broad and general to focused and specific): Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
As this is the taxonomy that can be applied to all life here on Earth, it can thus be applied to our friend the Coffee Plant. Here's the rundown:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: COFFEA
…
But what about Species? Isn’t coffee just coffee?
That’s where things get interesting!
You may have heard the term Arabica thrown around, maybe you’ve even heard of Canephora (aka Robusta). Well, those are both species of Coffee! In fact, there aren’t just two species, but there are, to this day, 130 confirmed species!
At Northshore, we've only seen Arabica and specialty Robusta in our roastery, so, when we heard that the list was that extensive, we just had to find the names of these 130 variants of the plant we all love.
However, that turned out to be quite the endeavour. Many sources have their own version of the list that doesn’t always include the same list that another list may have. So we worked our way through list after list until we compiled a final complete version.
To save you the same trouble, we thought we’d list them here just for you. Let’s begin!
- arabica
- canephora (robusta)
- eugenioides
- liberica
- stenophylla
- racemosa
- zanguebariae
- congensis
- charrieriana
- brevipes
- mauritiana
- magnistipula
- anthonyi
- ambongensis
- Namorokensis
- abbayesii
- affinis
- alleizettii
- ambanjensis
- andrambovatensis
- ankaranensis
- arenesiana
- augagneurii
- bakossii
- benghalensis
- bertrandi
- betamponensis
- bissetiae
- boinensis
- boiviniana
- bonnieri
- brassii
- bridsoniae
- buxifolia
- carrissoi
- cochinchinensis
- commersoniana
- costatifructa
- coursiana
- dactylifera
- decaryana
- dubardii
- ebracteolata
- fadenii
- farafanganensis
- floresiana
- fotsoana
- fragilis
- fragrans
- gallienii
- grevei
- heimii
- homollei
- horsfieldiana
- humbertii
- humblotiana
- humilis
- jumellei
- kapakata
- kianjavatensis
- kihansiensis
- kimbozensis
- kivuensis
- labatii
- lancifolia
- lebruniana
- leonimontana
- leroyi
- liaudii
- ligustroides
- littoralis
- lulandoensis
- mabesae
- macrocarpa
- madurensis
- mangoroensis
- malabarica
- mannii
- manombensis
- mapiana
- mayombensis
- mcphersonii
- melanocarpa
- merguensis
- millotii
- minutiflora
- mogenetii
- mongensis
- montekupensis
- montis-sacri
- moratii
- mufindiensis
- myrtifolia
- neobridsoniae
- neoleroyi
- perrieri
- pervilleana
- pocsii
- pseudozanguebariae
- pterocarpa
- rakotonasoloi
- ratsimamangee
- resinosa
- rhamnifolia
- richardii
- sahafaryensis
- sakarahae
- salvatrix
- sambavensis
- sapinii
- schliebenii
- semsei
- sessiliflora
- tetragona
- togoensis
- toshii
- travancorensis
- tricalysioides
- tsirananae
- vatovavyensis
- vavateninensis
- vianneyi
- vohemarensis
- wightiana
- callmanderi
- darainensis
- kalobinonensis
- microdubardii
- pustulata
- rupicola
If you made it this far, we sure are proud of you! There are more species discovered all the time! In fact, as we published this list, a study was published that split ole species #4 into 3 separate species! Which means that, once the study is verified, we'll have to add Liberica, Excelsa, and the new guy "Klainei" to the list.
Roasting Arabica and Robusta are definitely the norm across the globe, but, recently, many are beginning to source alternative species. As coffee consumption and demand continue to rise with each passing day, many are looking to species like Liberica, Excelsa, or others to help satisfy the masses.
If you'd like to learn more, please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions. Thank you for taking the time to read our first journal entry! More to come!
Harrison Fontenoy
VP of Coffee Culture & Strategy
harry@havencc.coffee