Coffee Varieties, Roasts, and Blends

Coffee beans are harvested as berries from a tropical shrub. Two species of coffee account for nearly all the beans grown worldwide: Arabica coffees are delicate plants, difficult to grow. Nevertheless, they supply 65–75 percent of the world’s coffee. Most of the finest coffees are from arabica beans. Robusta coffee plants are hardier and easier to grow. Most ordinary supermarket coffee is made from robusta beans, but robusta can also yield beans of very high quality.

Each coffee berry contains two seeds. The harvested berries are fermented and hulled, yielding green or gray-green coffee beans. The green beans are roasted to develop their flavor. The degree of roasting—light, medium, dark—affects the flavor. Most Americans drink medium roast, sometimes called city roast, while darker roasts, sometimes called Viennese roast (medium dark) and French roast (very dark), are popular in Europe and increasingly popular in North America. Espresso roast is also a dark roast and is brewed using a special process discussed.