What Is Coffee Varietal?

A coffee varietal (or variety) is a fancy way of saying "type" of coffee. Just like there are different "types" of apple plants (granny smith, royal gala, macintosh) and "types" of tomato plants (roma, plum tomato, cherry tomato, beefsteak tomato), there are "types" of coffee plants.

What does varietal mean in coffee?

You will notice in our store, we list the varietal of each coffee. Varietal is a term used to describe a wine made from or belonging to a single specified variety of grape. And like the grapes affect on wine, the coffee varietal helps shape each coffee's taste profile.

How many coffee varietals are there?

There are four primary types of coffee beans we'll be discussing here: Arabica (Coffee arabica), Robusta (Coffee caniphora), Liberica (Coffee liberica), and Excelsa (Coffee liberica var. dewevrei). Let's discover what differences define these various types of coffee.