Knowledge Base
Coffee & Tea Guides
Brew better and explore more — buying guides, how-tos, and explainers for every coffee and tea ritual.
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Lactic Process Coffee: The Creamy Fermentation Method
Lactic process coffee steers fermentation toward lactic-acid bacteria for a creamy, yogurt-like, syrupy cup with soft, rounded acidity — a method, not a variety.
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Sudan Rume Coffee Variety: The Wild Flavor Landrace
Sudan Rume is a wild Arabica landrace from the Boma Plateau — low-yielding but legendary in the cup, and the breeding parent behind F1 hybrids like Centroamericano.
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Maracaturra Coffee Variety: The Giant-Bean Nicaraguan Cross
An Arabica cross of Maragogipe and Caturra developed in Nicaragua, Maracaturra pairs giant elephant beans with a compact plant and a creamy, sweet, complex cup.
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Sarchimor Coffee Variety: The Rust-Resistant Villa Sarchí Line
Sarchimor is a group of rust-resistant Arabicas from Villa Sarchi crossed with the Timor Hybrid, spanning cultivars like Marsellesa, Parainema and Obata.
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Laurina (Bourbon Pointu) Coffee: The Low-Caffeine Variety
Laurina, or Bourbon Pointu, is a natural Bourbon mutation from Reunion with pointed beans and roughly half the caffeine of normal Arabica, no decaf process required.
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Pink Bourbon Coffee Variety: The Trending Rose-Cherry Coffee
The rose-cherry variety that conquered specialty menus—yet DNA testing suggests Colombia's booming Pink Bourbon is an Ethiopian landrace, not a Bourbon at all.
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Yellow Bourbon Coffee Variety: The Amber-Cherry Bourbon
Yellow Bourbon (Bourbon Amarelo) is a Brazilian Arabica whose cherries ripen amber, not red, via the recessive xanthocarpa gene, giving a sweet, soft, syrupy cup.
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Sierra Nevada Coffee: Colombia's Coastal-Mountain Origin
Coffee from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia's Caribbean coastal mountain range, grown by indigenous communities: full-bodied, chocolatey, soft in acidity.
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Antioquia Coffee: Colombia's Paisa Heartland Origin
Antioquia is the cradle of Colombian coffee and the paisa heartland around Medellin, growing washed Castillo and Caturra with caramel sweetness and citrus acidity.
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Opalaca Coffee: Honduras's Lenca-Highland Origin
Opalaca coffee is western Honduras's Lenca-highland origin: smallholder, cooperative-grown lots at 1,100–1,500 m with tropical-fruit, grape and floral clarity.
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Comayagua Coffee: Honduras's Central Highland Origin
Comayagua is central Honduras's most productive coffee region — highland washed beans grown near the old colonial capital, prized for sweet fruit and a balanced cup.
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El Paraíso Coffee: Honduras's Largest-Producing Region
El Paraíso, on Honduras's Nicaraguan border, is the country's volume workhorse: a mild, sweet, balanced washed arabica grown at 1,000–1,400 m around Danlí.
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Montecillos Coffee: Honduras's Fruity Highland Region
Montecillos is Honduras's fruity western highland region — home to the Marcala Denomination of Origin — famed for citrus, stone fruit, caramel, and bright tartaric acidity.
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Brunca Coffee: Costa Rica's Southern Frontier Origin
Brunca is Costa Rica's southern frontier coffee region — Coto Brus and Pérez Zeledón on the Panama border, cooperative-built, growing mild, sweet, balanced Caturra and Catuaí.
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Turrialba Coffee: Costa Rica's Rainy Lowland Research Origin
East of Costa Rica's Central Valley, Turrialba grows coffee low, warm and rainy - a lighter, gentler cup, and the home of CATIE's world-famous coffee gene bank.
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Orosi Coffee: Costa Rica's Historic Cartago Valley Origin
Orosi is a misty, rain-soaked valley in Cartago and one of Costa Rica's oldest coffee origins — a gentle chocolate-and-citrus cup, softer than neighboring Tarrazú.
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San Marcos Coffee: Guatemala's Warmest, Earliest-Flowering Origin
San Marcos is Guatemala's warmest, wettest coffee region on the Tacana flank near Mexico — the earliest to flower and harvest, with a floral, bright, delicate cup.
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Nuevo Oriente Coffee: Guatemala's Non-Volcanic Eastern Origin
Nuevo Oriente is eastern Guatemala's quiet frontier origin, grown on metamorphic, non-volcanic soil - balanced, full-bodied and chocolatey, farmed by small cooperatives.
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Acatenango Coffee: Guatemala's Volcano-Valley Origin
The Acatenango Valley sits west of Antigua on the flanks of Fuego and Acatenango, where smallholders sun-dry their own high-grown coffee for a clean, chocolate-and-citrus cup.
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Fraijanes Coffee: Guatemala's High-Volcanic Plateau Origin
How Guatemala's Fraijanes Plateau, high, rain-soaked, and dusted with ash from the active Pacaya volcano, builds a coffee of bright acidity and full body.
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Wet-Hulled Coffee: Indonesia's Giling Basah Method
Wet-hulling — giling basah — is Indonesia's signature way of preparing coffee: the parchment is stripped off while the bean is still wet, giving Sumatra, Sulawesi and Flores their low-acid, heavy-bodied, earthy cup. Here's how it works and why it exists nowhere else.
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Carbonic Maceration Coffee: Winemaking Meets the Cup
Carbonic maceration borrows a winemaking trick — whole cherries fermented in sealed, CO2-flushed tanks — to build coffee's most intense fruity, boozy, candy-like flavors. Here is how it works and why it divides the coffee world.
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Villa Sarchí: Costa Rica's Dwarf Bourbon Variety
Villa Sarchí is a naturally occurring dwarf mutation of Bourbon that appeared near the town of Sarchí in Costa Rica's West Valley. Compact and wind-tolerant, it thrives at altitude, gives a sweet and bright cup, and is a founding parent of the rust-resistant Sarchimor lines.
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Pacas Coffee: El Salvador's Compact Bourbon Mutation
Pacas is a natural dwarf mutation of Bourbon, found on a Salvadoran family farm around 1949. Discover how this compact variety kept Bourbon's sweetness, thrived in El Salvador's volcanic highlands, and became a parent of Pacamara.