Coffea arabica ‘Maragogipe’: what’s in a name?

Coffea arabica ‘Maragogipe’: what’s in a name?

October 2, 2024

When most people go to a coffee shop, they choose their poison, pay for it, and hopefully enjoy it. Some discerning coffee connoisseurs may ask the poor barista what type of bean they are drinking or what the roast is, and the barista may answer something like “urrgh, I think it is a Brazil, a darkish roast”. Buying coffee in a supermarket is slightly more complicated. You get to the hot drinks isle and are confronted by a multitude of dazzling packages which have all been designed to entice you to purchase them. You have strength scores, information about the origin, grind information, certifications, taste notes, meticulously crafted descriptions of flavor, and somewhere on the bag is likely to be the phrase 100% arabica. So what is arabica? And why does it seem to be a badge of pride?

Source: https://www.compatible-capsules.com/coffee-basics/arabica-vs-robusta-coffee-whats-the-difference/

Well, arabica is a species of coffee, one of several. We use the term arabica like a first name, like George, Paul, John, Ringo etc. Continuing this line of reasoning, the surname of arabica would be Coffea. The full name for arabica is therefore: Coffea arabica. But this differs from how we name ourselves, having the surname first before the first name. The reason the name is ordered like names on an army register is to provide a simple classification system, one result being that we can easily identify relatives. For example, Coffea cenophora is a relative of Coffea arabica, just like Serena Williams is Sister to Venus Williams. This system of naming is actually a system of scientific classification with rules and conventions, it is known as the binominal system and was created by a biologist called Carl Llinnaeus in the 18th century.

Source: https://www.greenplantation.com/a/third-coffee-variety-liberica

Taxonomy

The binominal naming system provides us with an ordered classification system, otherwise known as taxonomy, for all known life. The classification system has several hierarchal ranks, with genus and species being the lowest ranks. The ranks go as followed: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species. So, an English oak tree (Quercus robur) is in the same kingdom as coffee, the plant kingdom (Plantae), but it is not in the same family, let alone genus. Here is another example: cannabis is in the plant kingdom and it is in the same family as the hops we use for brewing beer, but it is a different genus from those hops. Below is a table which contains examples of the binominal system in action.

English	Binominal	Genus	Species
Arabica coffee	Coffea arabica	Coffea	arabica
Robusta coffee	Coffea canephora	Coffea	canephora
Tea	Cameilia sinensis	Cameilia	sinensis
English oak	Quercus robur	Quercus	robur
Modern human	Homo sapien	Homo	sapien
Archaic human	Homo neanderthalus	Homo	neanderthalensis
(one or many)	Homo neanderthalus	Homo	neanderthalensis
Mango	Mangifera indica	Mangifera	indica
George Harrison	Harrison George	George	Harrison

English	Binominal	Genus	Species
Arabica coffee	Coffea arabica	Coffea	arabica
Robusta coffee	Coffea canephora	Coffea	canephora
Tea	Cameilia sinensis	Cameilia	sinensis
English oak	Quercus robur	Quercus	robur
Modern human	Homo sapien	Homo	sapien
Archaic human	Homo neanderthalus	Homo	neanderthalensis
(one or many)	Homo neanderthalus	Homo	neanderthalensis
Mango	Mangifera indica	Mangifera	indica
George Harrison	Harrison George	George	Harrison

100% arabica!!!

The binominal system relies on the use of the genus and species only and is therefore quite specific and useful for both academics and coffee snobs alike. Coffee merchants in the UK are very keen to make a point of displaying the 100% arabica sign on their coffee packets, and this is because there is a general opinion that arabica tastes more pleasant than robusta (Coffea canephora). Robusta is a species of coffee which generally grows at a lower altitude than most arabica coffee and has a distinct taste. It is drunk widely around the world and is often used in coffee blends and is often considerably cheaper than arabica. In fact, many of us have drunk and enjoyed blends with robusta in it, you may even drink it regularly without knowing it. I have enjoyed coffees which have been 100% robusta. Robusta tends to be more bitter and is often more palatable when sweetened. In Vietnam, robusta is the main coffee crop, it is usually drunk with condensed, sweetened, milk; it tastes great.

And what about varieties?

English	Binominal	Genus	Species	Variety or Cultivar
Arabica coffee	Coffea arabica	Coffea	arabica	Maragogipe
				Yellow Bourbon
				SL34
				Geisha
				Mundo Novo

English	Binominal	Genus	Species	Variety or Cultivar
Arabica coffee	Coffea arabica	Coffea	arabica	Maragogipe
				Yellow Bourbon
				SL34
				Geisha
				Mundo Novo

To get even more specific, some coffee is delineated into subspecies or varieties or cultivars. I am not a taxonomist so the less I say here the less likely I am to be wrong, therefore I will try and keep this brief. Varieties are naturally occurring deviations from the norm, whereas cultivars possess characteristics which are achieved through selective breeding outside of nature. For example: SL34 is a cultivar which was first produced in the 1930s by Scott Laboratories (hence SL), whereas Coffea arabica ‘Maragogipe’, is a natural mutation discovered near Maragogipe, in Brazil. [1]

Thanks

There are many rules when using the binominal system, and I probably haven’t adhered to them very well here, but as a rough explanation I hope this has helped you understand the botanical naming conventions for coffee. If you order coffee from our website, you will see a coffee profile for each product and this will name the varieties or variety of the coffee beans, for example our PNG Saruta coffee is made up of three varieties: Arusha, Blue Mountain, Typica. Check it out.

Thanks for your time,

Ali

[1] World Coffee Research. Accessible at: marahttps://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/varieties/maragogipegogipe