How Did Typica Coffee Spread From Ethiopia Around the World?

Typica is one of the oldest Arabica varieties and still accounts for a large share of global Arabica production. It began in Ethiopia, moved through Yemen, India, Europe, and Southeast Asia, and later took root in Central America and Hawaii. Central America, Jamaica, the Kona region of Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor remain key growing areas.

The plant is easy to identify: a conical shape with a vertical trunk that can reach 5 meters, long spacing between branches, and slender leaves, fruit, and green beans. New leaf buds show a bronze tip. Jamaican Blue Mountain illustrates how washed and natural processing express the same Typica variety differently in the cup.

Typica is one of the oldest varieties of Arabica coffee and today accounts for a significant share of global Arabica production. It originated in Ethiopia and spread through Yemen, India, Europe, and Southeast Asia before finally taking root in Central and South America and Hawaii, shaping the development landscape of coffee-producing countries worldwide. This article will trace Typica's global dissemination path, introduce its tree characteristics and cultivation process, and use Jamaican Blue Mountain as an example to compare the flavor expression of washed and natural processing methods. Front Street Coffee presents the clear, clean, and tranquil qualities of Blue Mountain Typica through roasting, cupping, and brewing, offering a reference for coffee enthusiasts.

Currently, Arabica coffee accounts for about 70% of global coffee production, and Typica, as one of the oldest varieties in the Arabica family, started from its Ethiopian homeland and gradually spread across the world, driving the development of numerous coffee-producing countries. How exactly did it travel the globe? What is its cultivation process like? In this article, Front Street will trace the history of Typica's spread and how a single coffee bean grows into a coffee tree.

Typica Coffee Bean Variety

Typica belongs to a sub-variety under Arabica coffee and was first grown on the island of Martinique. Currently, Central America, Jamaica, the Kona region of Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor remain major Typica-growing areas. To maintain high quality while increasing yield, Typica usually needs to be crossbred with other varieties.

Typica's tree characteristics are very distinctive, making it one of the easiest varieties to identify. The plant is conical in shape with a vertical main trunk and can grow up to 5 meters tall. This height makes the spacing between branches and the internodes on the same branch relatively long. The angle between side branches and the main trunk ranges from 50 to 80 degrees, which is an acute angle. Neither the trunk nor the branches are particularly thick, and the leaves, fruit, and green beans are mostly slender in shape. The tips of new leaf buds are bronze-colored. Compared with other Arabica varieties, Typica's leaf surface is smoother and has fewer wavy edges. The fruit turns bright red when ripe.

The bronze-colored top leaves of Typica are one of its signature characteristics. The beans are relatively large, pointed-oval or thin-pointed in shape, which is why some people also call it "red-top coffee." However, its drawbacks are also obvious: low yield, specific altitude requirements, susceptibility to leaf rust, and weak resistance to pests and diseases. Through cupping, Front Street Coffee has found that Typica has a uniquely clear, clean, and tranquil flavor, with overall balance and a high degree of cleanliness in the cup.

Typica Coffee's Global Dissemination Path

Typica's Homeland — Ethiopia: The name Arabica can easily lead people to mistakenly believe its homeland is the Arabian Peninsula, but it actually originated in Ethiopia. The reason it is called Arabica is that the Arabian Peninsula, located at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, and Africa, was a hub of world cultural exchange before the Age of Discovery. It was not until 1753 that the botanist Linnaeus mistakenly believed the coffee came from the Middle East and gave it the scientific name Coffea arabica L. In 2002, a European-funded coffee genetic material research project found that the genetic diversity of coffee in Yemen and other places was far lower than that of Ethiopia, which "helped" Arabica find its true homeland.

Typica's First Stop — Yemen: After coffee was introduced to the Arabian Peninsula, it was initially used only as medicine. After centuries of taking root and multiplying, around 1500, the ports of Mocha and Aden in Yemen developed a method of drinking crushed dried coffee fruit pulp soaked in water, called "qishr." Later, it gradually developed into a drink made by grinding and boiling roasted coffee beans with fruit pulp and cinnamon, called "qahwa."

Typica's Second Stop — India: Around 1600, a devout Indian Muslim named Baba Budan traveled to Mecca on pilgrimage and became fascinated with coffee. He attempted to illegally smuggle green beans back to India, stealing 7 Yemeni Typica coffee seeds, returning to Karnataka in southwestern India, planting them on the Chandragiri Hills, where they successfully multiplied. This was the first recorded case in history of successfully smuggling Yemeni coffee green beans abroad for cultivation.

Typica's Third Stop — Europe: Around the 17th century, Yemen's Mocha port was already a world-famous coffee export port. At that time, to prevent coffee seeds from flowing into other regions for cultivation, exported coffee was uniformly roasted beans, which is why coffee was also called "black gold." When coffee spread to Europe in the 17th century, the Dutch, known as the "sea coachmen," smelled enormous business opportunities — whoever possessed coffee possessed gold.

In the early 17th century, Europeans led by the Dutch obtained Yemeni coffee seedlings through illegal theft or seizure by force, but Europe's cold climate made the stolen seedlings unable to survive, and they withered one after another. It was not until 1616 that Captain De Boer of the Dutch East India Company stole coffee trees from Mocha, Yemen, transported them back to Amsterdam, and carefully planted them in a large greenhouse, where they finally flowered and fruited. This Typica coffee tree was also called the "European mother plant." In 1699, the Dutch transplanted Indian Typica to Java for trial cultivation with success, and in 1706 transported Java's Typica back to the Netherlands for cultivation.

Typica's Fourth Stop — Southeast Asia: As early as 1658, the Dutch transplanted descendants of the "European mother plant" to Sri Lanka, but unfortunately the cultivation failed. Later, in 1699, the Dutch transplanted coffee trees from Malabar in eastern India to Java. This trial cultivation succeeded, and Typica grew steadily in Java. In 1718, the Dutch transplanted the successfully trial-grown Typica from Java to Sumatra and Sulawesi. After more than a century of propagation, just when Indonesian Typica was at its peak, a leaf rust epidemic at the end of the 19th century swept through most of Indonesia's Typica, and afterward the more disease-resistant Robusta variety had to be introduced.

Typica's Fifth Stop — Central and South America: In 1708, coffee trees stolen by France from Mocha failed trial cultivation in Dijon. In 1714, the mayor of Amsterdam presented Java coffee seedlings to King Louis XIV of France, and France also built a greenhouse to carefully care for this sole surviving plant. Between 1715 and 1719, descendants of this mother plant were transplanted to French territories in Central and South America, but none succeeded.

In 1720, a naval officer named Gabriel de Clieu stole a Typica seedling from the Royal Botanical Garden in Paris and escorted it all the way west across the Atlantic to the Americas. In 1723, he finally arrived at the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean and carefully planted this sole coffee seedling. Three years later, this "European mother plant" was laden with fruit. By 1777, 19 million Typica trees had been planted on Martinique. Jamaica, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and other countries in Central and South America also successively introduced Typica coffee trees in the mid-to-late 18th century, and Typica thus took solid root in Central and South America.

Typica's Sixth Stop — A Small Journey in the 19th Century: In 1825, Hawaii introduced Guatemalan-improved Typica coffee and planted it in the Kona region, becoming today's famous island coffee — Kona coffee. In 1904, French missionary Father Tian Deneng went to Dali to preach and planted a Typica coffee tree in Zhukula Village. This coffee tree also became the ancestor of Yunnan coffee.

Now that we understand the dissemination history of Typica coffee, let us follow Front Street Coffee to learn about Typica coffee's growth process. In recent years, Front Street has been growing Typica coffee beans on plots along the Yunnan-Myanmar border, with the goal of improving the quality of Yunnan coffee by changing the varieties currently grown there. Next, follow Front Street to learn about the journey from a coffee bean to a coffee tree.

Seed Selection: This still has to start with a single coffee seed. The coffee seed, that is, the "coffee bean," must first be selected, choosing high-quality varieties and high-quality beans. Variety refers to Typica, Bourbon, and so on; Front Street believes that only high-quality varieties can produce high-quality coffee. High-quality beans refer to quality: Front Street believes that the breeding fruit selected must be fully ripe, normal in shape, plump and full, and basically uniform in size. If short-term storage is needed, the seed moisture content should be reduced to 13%, and the germination rate for sowing within 1 to 3 months can reach 100%, while for 4 to 7 months it is only 29%.

Germination Promotion: First, soak the prepared coffee seeds in 45% warm water for 24 hours, then sow the seeds in medium-coarse sand (river sand), cover with 1 to 2 centimeters of coarse sand, and then spread a layer of 3 to 5 centimeters of rice straw, moistening the sand layer. About 20 days after sowing, the coffee seeds begin to sprout, and after 40 to 60 days they begin to break through the soil. At this point, a shade shed must be built, requiring a shade rate of 80%.

Seedling Cultivation: When the sprouts begin to grow their first pair of leaves, Front Street's coffee farmers will screen the coffee seedlings, selecting high-quality coffee seedlings and moving them into nutrition bags for seedling cultivation.

Tree Maturity: After seedling cultivation is completed, they must be transplanted into the field for planting. Altitude is greatly related to coffee quality. Front Street believes that Arabica coffee grown above 1,200 meters will have better quality. In the first and second years after planting, the coffee tree mainly undergoes vegetative growth, and only in the third year and after will it begin to flower and fruit.

Flowering: Coffee trees bloom on rainy days after the dry season, and the first flowering period is around the third year of the tree's age. The flowers are white and grow in clusters on the second branch of the coffee tree, with 5 to 6 petals. At this time, one can smell the rich jasmine fragrance of the pure white flowers.

Fruiting: A few months after the coffee flowers wither, the coffee tree begins to bear fruit. The newly formed coffee cherries are green, and as they gradually mature, the color changes from green to yellow, and when fully ripe, turns red.

Harvesting: Coffee farmers begin picking when the coffee cherries are ripe. The best picking method is manual selective picking, choosing only fully ripe red cherries. Training a skilled coffee picker requires significant cost. As the saying goes, "Who knows that every grain on the plate is the result of hard work?" Whether it is rice, coffee beans, or other crops, behind all cultivation is a group of farmers carefully tending them, so Front Street would like to remind everyone here not to waste any food that is hard-won.

Alright, back to the topic. Currently, the most famous place in the world for growing Typica is none other than Jamaica's Front Street Blue Mountain Coffee. Next, through roasting, cupping, and brewing, Front Street will examine how the flavor of Jamaican Blue Mountain Typica coffee performs. The Blue Mountains are located in eastern Jamaica, at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,700 meters. The Blue Mountains lie in the coffee-growing belt, with fertile volcanic soil, fresh air, no pollution, a humid climate, and year-round fog and rain, with average precipitation of 1,980 millimeters and temperatures around 27 degrees Celsius. This climate has created the world-renowned Jamaican Front Street Blue Mountain Coffee. Only Blue Mountain grown in this region is authentic Front Street Blue Mountain Coffee. Blue Mountain Typica was transplanted from Martinique to Jamaica's Blue Mountains in the 1720s. After more than 200 years, Blue Mountain Typica has evolved better disease resistance, especially resistance to coffee berry disease, superior to ordinary Typica. However, once Blue Mountain Typica leaves Jamaica, it cannot replicate its uniquely sweet and delicately fragrant characteristics.

The two Front Street Blue Mountain coffees currently listed by Front Street come from Clifton Farm, which is also the only estate in the Blue Mountain growing region with Rainforest Alliance certification. Before 2019, Clifton Farm's Blue Mountain coffee always used the washed method to process green coffee beans. During processing, the skin and pulp are first removed, then allowed to ferment for 12 to 18 hours. After fermentation, the beans are placed in a tank and moved back and forth, using the friction of the beans and the force of flowing water to wash the coffee beans until smooth and clean. After washing, the coffee beans are still wrapped in parchment, with a moisture content of 50%, and must be dried to reduce the moisture content to 12% to 14%; otherwise, they will continue to ferment and become moldy and spoiled. After that, the coffee beans are sorted and then stored in dedicated warehouses.

In the new 2020 harvest season, Clifton Farm launched Blue Mountain coffee beans with natural processing for the first time, which was truly novel. Jamaica has a tropical rainforest climate, with rainy seasons from May to June and September to November each year, with the most showers in January and May. Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee's harvest and processing season runs from February to June each year, with half of that time falling in the rainy season, making natural processing obviously impractical. In addition, traditionally natural-processed coffee has unstable quality, with coffee quality entirely determined by the weather. Moreover, obtaining better-quality natural processing requires higher labor costs than washed and other processing methods. When coffee cherries are dried in the sun on drying beds, they need to be manually turned every few hours to maintain ventilation, reducing mold while ensuring even drying. This thankless processing method was even harder to carry out in Jamaica at the time.

Front Street Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee Roasting Notes

Front Street Washed Blue Mountain: Charge when the drum temperature reaches 170°C, set airflow to 3, after 1 minute adjust heat to 140°C, keep airflow unchanged, roast until 5 minutes 10 seconds, temperature 153°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, adjust heat to 115°C, airflow to 4; at the 8th minute, the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and dark streaks, and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 8 minutes 12 seconds, reduce heat to 90°C, fully open airflow (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound), drop at 201.3°C.

Front Street Natural Blue Mountain: Charge at 165°C, heat 130, airflow 3; turning point at 1 minute 32 seconds, when drum temperature is 95.8°C, keep heat unchanged; at 3 minutes adjust airflow to 4, at 4 minutes increase heat to 140. At 6 minutes 30 seconds, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. At 8 minutes 36 seconds, the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and dark streaks, and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 10 minutes 06 seconds, develop for 3 minutes after first crack, drop at 198.5°C.

Front Street Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee Cupping Report

Front Street Coffee conducts cupping within 8 to 24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. Front Street Coffee's roasters generally use ceramic cupping bowls with a capacity of 200 milliliters, marked with graduation lines at 150 milliliters and 200 milliliters. According to SCAA standards, the TDS of water is about 150 ppm. Too low TDS easily causes over-extraction, while too high affects mouthfeel and easily causes under-extraction. The water temperature used for cupping is 94 degrees Celsius. According to SCAA cupping standards, the grind size is controlled so that the passing rate through a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85 millimeters) is 70% to 75%. The ratio is 11 grams of coffee grounds to 200 milliliters of hot water, that is, 1:18.18, so that the extracted concentration falls exactly within the golden cup range of 1.15% to 1.35%. Steeping time: 4 minutes.

Front Street Washed Blue Mountain Coffee Cupping

Dry aroma: roasted peanut, hazelnut, melon, chocolate

Wet aroma: oolong tea, caramel, honey, chocolate, almond

Flavor: roasted nuts, chocolate, almond, melon, honey, balanced sweet-acidic-bitter

Front Street Natural Blue Mountain Coffee Cupping

Dry aroma: nuts, woody

Wet aroma: caramel

Flavor: berries, smoked plum, mulberry, dark cocoa, nuts, slight fermented note

Front Street Coffee Blue Mountain Coffee Brewing Suggestions

Dripper: Kono dripper

Coffee dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Water temperature: 88 to 89 degrees

Grind size: medium-coarse grind (75% passing rate through No. 20 standard sieve)

Front Street brewing method: First pour 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 grams (electronic scale shows about 125 grams), completing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100 grams (electronic scale shows about 225 grams), completing the pour in about 1 minute 40 to 1 minute 45 seconds. Dripping is completed at 2 minutes 05 seconds to 2 minutes 10 seconds. Remove the dripper and finish extraction.

[Front Street Washed Blue Mountain]: On the palate, there are flavors of dark chocolate and nuts, high cleanliness, very bright, good body, balanced sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

[Front Street Natural Blue Mountain]: On the palate, there is brown sugar sweetness accompanied by berry acidity, with nutty and cocoa flavors in the middle and finish, a creamy mouthfeel, rich and obvious layering, and a finish that brings out the aroma of walnuts.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.