Arabica varieties and their lines

A narrow start#

Coffea arabica is native to Ethiopia, where most of the species’ genetic diversity is found.¹ In the 15th or 16th century, coffee was taken from south-western Ethiopia to Yemen and grown there as a crop.^4,3 Genetic tests show that the main seeds taken to Yemen were related to the Bourbon and Typica varieties, and their descendants became the basis of most Arabica grown in the world today.^1,12

The species was already narrow before people moved it. Its genome shows several bottlenecks before domestication, which left Arabica with little genetic variation.³ The trip to Yemen and onwards narrowed it again.¹² In Brazil, seven ancestors account for 97.55% of the genetic base of the 121 Arabica cultivars released between 1939 and 2009; Bourbon Vermelho alone contributes 52.76%.¹³

The lines at a glance#

World Coffee Research (WCR) sorts the Arabica varieties in its catalogue into genetic groups: Ethiopian landraces, the Bourbon and Typica group, introgressed varieties (Catimors, Sarchimors and others) and F1 hybrids.^1,2 The map draws each group as a metro line. Places and dates on the old journeys are stations too. Tap a variety to see what it was bred from and what was bred from it; tap a line name to follow one line. Switch to List for a table you can scan.

Typica: via India and Java#

Around 1600, seeds smuggled out of Yemen started the Arabica lineages of India.³ At the end of the 17th century the Dutch sent seeds from the Malabar coast to Batavia (Jakarta) on Java, and the Typica branch probably separated from Bourbon there, not in Yemen as is often told.^1,3 In 1706 a single plant went from Java to Amsterdam. That plant gave rise to the Typica variety that spread through the Americas in the 18th century.^1,3 A few years later the mayor of Amsterdam gave a plant to Louis XIV, and it was grown in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.¹

From Amsterdam, plants went to Suriname, Cayenne and northern Brazil, which received its first coffee seed in 1727; from Paris to Martinique, starting Caribbean cultivation in 1723, and from there to Jamaica and other islands.^1,3,13 For a long time most plantations in Central America grew Typica. Being low-yielding and very susceptible to the main coffee diseases, it was gradually replaced by Bourbon varieties, but is still widely planted in Peru, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.¹

Bourbon: via Réunion#

The French brought coffee from Yemen to Bourbon Island, now Réunion, in three attempts in 1708, 1715 and 1718; none of the first introduction survived, and the Bourbon group descends from a single plant that survived by 1720.^1,12,3 Bourbon coffee did not leave the island until the mid-19th century, when it reached southern Brazil and spread north into Central America.^1,13

In East Africa, French Spiritan missionaries planted seed from Réunion at their missions in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, and Bura, Kenya. Seedlings from Bura were taken to the mission at Saint Austin near Nairobi and given to settlers: the origin of “French Mission” coffee.¹ In Kenya, the Scott Agricultural Laboratories selected single trees in the 1930s: SL34 comes from a tree labelled “French Mission”, SL28 from a selection of “Tanganika Drought Resistant”.^2,14

Dwarfs and crosses#

Small, compact plants can be planted closer together. Caturra, found in Minas Gerais, Brazil, between 1915 and 1918, is a natural Bourbon mutant whose small size comes from a single gene.⁵ Villa Sarchi (Costa Rica) and Pacas (El Salvador) are similar Bourbon mutants.²

Typica and Bourbon also crossed. Mundo Novo, discovered in Brazil in 1943, is a natural cross of the two.⁶ Crossing Mundo Novo with Caturra gave Catuai, which can be planted at nearly double the density of Bourbon.⁷ Pacamara is a cross of Pacas with Maragogipe, a natural Typica mutant.²

Rust and the Timor Hybrid#

In the 1920s a C. arabica and a C. canephora (robusta) plant crossed naturally on the island of Timor; the hybrid was identified in 1927.^1,3 The resulting Timor Hybrid carries robusta genes that let it resist coffee leaf rust. Breeders selected many Timor Hybrid lines and crossed them, most often with Caturra and Villa Sarchi.¹ These crosses gave the two main groups of introgressed Arabica: Catimors (Timor Hybrid × Caturra) and Sarchimors (Timor Hybrid × Villa Sarchi). Neither is a single variety; each is a group of many varieties with similar parentage.¹

Introgressed varieties have traditionally been linked with lower cup quality, but they have been essential where leaf rust and coffee berry disease threaten farms.^1,3 Their protection is wearing off: some formerly resistant varieties such as Lempira in Honduras and Costa Rica 95 in Costa Rica have been infected. Because most of them owe their resistance to the same parent, most experts expect existing rust-resistant varieties to lose it in the near to medium term.¹

F1 hybrids#

F1 hybrids are the first-generation offspring of two genetically distinct Arabica parents, bred to combine high cup quality, high yield and disease resistance; they tend to yield much more than other varieties.¹ Centroamericano, a cross of the Sarchimor T5296 with the landrace Rume Sudan released in 2010, gave 22–47% more coffee than standard Central American varieties in breeding trials.¹¹

Seed from an F1 plant does not breed true: the next generation loses some of its yield, resistance or quality. F1 hybrids are therefore multiplied as clones and bought from trusted nurseries.¹ Starmaya is so far the only F1 hybrid that seed producers can propagate by seed.¹⁰