Hello, I’m Prunella from “Le Piantagioni del Caffè” and today I’ll tell you about botanical varieties.

In taxonomy, the botanical variety is included within the botanical species.
So, for example, the species Coffea Arabica contains many botanical varieties.
Botanical varieties of the same species are different from each other but they can hybridize.
However, botanical variety is not to be confused with cultivar: the former can develop naturally, the latter can only be developed by human intervention.
Now, I will give a few examples of the botanical variety or variety group belonging to the
Coffea Arabica species.
One very important variety group is Bourbon in the Indian Ocean. It consists of plants whose cherries are yellow and red, and it comes originally from Yemen.
Another well-known variety group is Tipica.
Its predecessor comes from Java and it consists of much taller plants with bronze-colored young leaves instead of green ones. Unlike Bourbon, it has lower productivity.
Another interesting example is the botanical variety Caturra,
which is a natural mutation of Red Bourbon.
Unlike Red Bourbon, it is a slightly stockier, shorter plant. But it has a productivity very similar to that of Bourbon.
Finally, I would love to mention Geisha, which is the quintessential botanical variety.
It finds its origins in the southwestern forests of Ethiopia.
Geisha was brought to Kenya, Tanzania and Costa Rica in the 1930s.
It was right from Costa Rica that it was then brought to Panama, where thanks to Finca Esmeralda it became world-famous.