May 23 2011
Types of Coffee Beans
Coffee Beans
The popularity of coffee has brought the number of coffee beans available to coffee drinkers to record numbers. There are over six thousand varieties of coffee beans in the world with at least twenty-five of those being major coffee beans; however, there are truly only three major coffee beans in the coffee world, the Arabica the Robusta and the Kona. These are the beans that make up the coffee that is brewed every day.
Kona is the most expensive and most flavorful coffee bean of the three types. It is not widely grown; in fact, it is only grown in Hawaii. It is one of the most expensive coffee beans in the world. It is a highly coveted coffee not only for its flavor but its intense aromas. The Kona coffee bean is not easy to come by and is not blended with other beans because of its popularity on its own. Demand for the Kona is high and the supply is low which is part of what pushes the price of the Kona bean higher.
The Arabica bean is the next highest priced bean and also an excellent bean for its flavor. The flavor of this bean is dependent on where it is grown and so there are many varieties of Arabica beans. The Arabcia bean is responsible for over sixty percent of the coffee produced and drank in the world.
The Arabica bean is hard to grow which is part of the reason the cost of the bean is higher in cost than the Robusta bean. The Arabica bean takes on the flavor of the soil it grows in and is usually known by the name of the area they come from such s the Sumatra bean and the Java bean. These beans produce a fuller-bodied coffee than some of the other countries that produce Arabica beans. Arabica beans grown in the areas of Central and South America are more moderately bodied and have a milder aroma.
On the other hand, the Robusta bean accounts for 40% of the coffee production. This bean is much easier to grow and yet is less flavorful but contains more caffeine than the Arabica bean. The Robusta bean is found in less expensive coffees and is used in blends. The Arabica bean is often added to the Robusta bean to create a blended coffee that has some of the flavor of the Arabica without the high cost.
Even though there are thousands of types of coffee beans there are truly only a few that the coffee drinker has to be concerned with and those are the Arabica bean and the Robusta bean. The Kona bean is also a great coffee bean but it is more expensive than most beans and not the average morning coffee for most people. Understanding what each of these beans brings to the coffee pot is a good start to choosing the right coffee bean for daily use.
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