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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Timor Hybrid: The Arabica-Robusta Rust Fighter
The Timor Hybrid is a natural Arabica-Robusta cross found on Timor island. Its Robusta genes fight coffee leaf rust — making it the backbone of Catimor, Sarchimor and Castillo.
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Catimor: The Rust-Resistant Coffee Variety Family
Catimor is a whole family of Caturra x Timor Hybrid coffees bred to resist leaf rust. Here is where it came from, the national names it hides behind, and why its cup swings so hard on altitude and care.
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Castillo Coffee: Colombia's Rust-Resistant Workhorse
Castillo is the rust-resistant Arabica that Colombia's Cenicafe bred from Caturra and the Timor Hybrid — a heavy-cropping workhorse once dismissed by specialty buyers, now proving itself in blind trials and competition cups. Here's how it was made, why its Robusta ancestry fights leaf rust, and whether it really cups as well as Caturra.
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Puerto Rican Coffee: The Caribbean's Mountain Revival
Once the prized brew of popes and kings, Puerto Rican coffee is now a small, high-cost Caribbean origin reviving in the mountains of Yauco, Adjuntas, and Lares — smooth, sweet, low-acid, and full-bodied.
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Apaneca Coffee: El Salvador's Volcanic Ridge Origin
Apaneca-Ilamatepec is El Salvador's largest and best-loved coffee region — volcanic, shade-grown, and quietly guarding one of the world's great reservoirs of heirloom Bourbon, Pacas, and Pacamara.
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Copán Coffee: Honduras's Western Highland Origin
Copán, in the mountainous west of Honduras beside the Guatemalan border and the famous Maya ruins, is one of the country's protected highland coffee regions — a smallholder landscape of balanced, sweet cups built on chocolate, caramel, and gentle fruit.
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Marcala Coffee: Honduras's Protected-Origin Star
Marcala, in the La Paz highlands of Honduras, was Central America's first protected coffee origin. Here is what makes its sweet, bright, largely organic cups so distinctive.
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Santander Coffee: Colombia's Historic Shaded Origin
In the northeastern corner of Colombia lies Santander, one of the country's oldest coffee frontiers. Grown lower, warmer, and heavily under shade, it delivers a full-bodied, low-acid, chocolate-and-nut cup that feels worlds apart from the bright southern origins.
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Tolima Coffee: Colombia's Smallholder Specialty Origin
Once cut off by armed conflict, Tolima has emerged as one of Colombia's most exciting specialty origins — a high-altitude, smallholder region famous for bright, sweet, washed coffees full of stone fruit and caramel.
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West Valley Coffee: Costa Rica's Sweet Central Origin
Inside Costa Rica's West Valley (Valle Occidental) — the volcanic, honey-processed region around Naranjo, Palmares and Sarchí that gave the world the Villa Sarchí variety and some of Central America's sweetest cups.
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Tres Ríos Coffee: Costa Rica's Classic Volcanic Origin
Once the most celebrated coffee region in Costa Rica, tiny Tres Ríos grows a clean, bright, balanced cup on the volcanic slopes of Irazú — even as the capital's sprawl slowly closes in on its farms.
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Cobán Coffee: Guatemala's Rainforest Origin
In the cloud forests of Alta Verapaz, near-constant misty rain called chipi-chipi shapes one of Guatemala's most distinctive coffees — fruity, winey, and quietly unconventional. Here is what makes Cobán tick, from climate to cup.
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Lake Atitlán Coffee: Guatemala's Volcanic Lake Origin
Atitlán coffee grows on the steep volcanic slopes above Guatemala's Lake Atitlán, where daily Xocomil winds and organic-rich soil build a full-bodied cup of cocoa and bright citric acidity from shade-grown smallholder cooperatives.
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Huehuetenango Coffee: Guatemala's Highest Origin
Tucked against the Mexican border, Huehuetenango is one of Guatemala's highest and most acclaimed non-volcanic coffee regions — where dry Tehuantepec winds shield the crop from frost and let it ripen at extreme altitude into a bright, wine-like, full-bodied cup.
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Djimma Coffee: Ethiopia's Vast Southwest Origin
Djimma — also spelled Jimma or Djimmah — is Ethiopia's vast southwestern coffee region, a forest-and-garden landscape near Arabica's cradle. Mostly sun-dried natural, earthy and rustic, it runs from commercial blending lots to quiet specialty gems.
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Limu Coffee: Ethiopia's Balanced, Winey Southwest Origin
Limu (Limmu) is a predominantly washed coffee from the highlands of southwestern Ethiopia, prized for a clean, balanced, medium-bodied cup with soft winey and gently spicy notes over mellow floral acidity. Here's how this classic Ethiopian origin grows, tastes, and differs from Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, and Harrar.
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Anaerobic Coffee: Fermentation Without Oxygen Explained
Anaerobic processing ferments coffee in sealed, oxygen-free tanks, producing intense fruity, boozy, funky flavors. Here is how the method works, why it tastes so wild, and why it divides the specialty coffee world.
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Honey Process Coffee: The Miel Method Explained
Honey (miel) process coffee leaves some or all of the sticky mucilage on the bean during drying, landing it between washed and natural. Here is what the white, yellow, red, and black honey scale means, why Costa Rica made it famous, and how it tastes.
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Mundo Novo: Brazil's Vigorous Bourbon-Typica Hybrid
Mundo Novo is a natural Bourbon-Typica cross discovered in 1940s Brazil, refined by the IAC into a vigorous, high-yielding workhorse variety — and the parent of Catuaí. Here is its origin, cup profile, and lasting legacy.
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Catuaí: Brazil's Compact Bourbon-Caturra Workhorse Variety
A cross of Mundo Novo and Caturra bred by Brazil's IAC, Catuaí is Latin America's compact, high-yielding workhorse — clean, sweet, and mild in the cup, in both red and yellow forms.
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SL28 and SL34: Kenya's Legendary Coffee Varieties
SL28 and SL34 are the Scott Laboratories selections behind Kenya's signature blackcurrant cup. Here's their history, how they differ, and why growers still plant them.
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Maragogipe: The 'Elephant Bean' Coffee Variety
Maragogipe is a natural Typica mutation from Bahia, Brazil, famous for its giant "elephant" beans. Low-yielding and tall, but capable of a smooth, mild, clean cup — and the parent of Pacamara.
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Pacamara: El Salvador's Giant Hybrid Coffee Variety
A deliberate cross of Pacas and Maragogipe bred in El Salvador, Pacamara pairs enormous beans with a wild, floral, herbal cup that dominates competitions and tests every grower who plants it.
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Côte d'Ivoire Coffee: West Africa's Robusta Powerhouse
Once the world's third-largest coffee producer, Côte d'Ivoire built its name on bold West African robusta grown in the forest belt beside cocoa. Here's its rise, decline, flavor, and revival.