Reading the family tree of varieties — from Typica to Starmaya in one diagram
2026-10-20
Arabica varieties are now said to number in the hundreds. Yet most of them branched from a very small number of ancestors. This article gathers the varieties we have covered in the Journal into one family tree and sets their characters side by side. Each name links to that variety's article.
Two ancestors
At the root of the tree are two lines, Typica and Bourbon. Both come from Arabica grown in Yemen, but they reached the world by different routes. Typica traveled with the Dutch through Java, Amsterdam and Paris to the Caribbean. Bourbon traveled with the French to Bourbon Island in the Indian Ocean. Many of the major varieties of Latin America and Africa were born from these two routes.
Route
The two routes Arabica took to the world
- Southwestern EthiopiaOriginHighland forests where wild Arabica still grows
- Yemen (port of Mocha)Cultivation beginsShipped from the port of Mocha
- JavaLate 17th c.The Dutch take seedlings from Yemen
- Amsterdam1706Sent to the botanical garden
- Paris1714Presented to Louis XIV, then to the royal botanical garden
- Martinique1723Gabriel de Clieu carries a seedling. The source of Latin America's Typica
- Bourbon Island (now Réunion)Early 18th c.The French carry it from Yemen. The origin of the name Bourbon
- African continentFrom the mid-19th c.Spread by missionaries and settlers to Africa and Latin America
The family tree on one page
From the two ancestors, varieties multiplied along several paths. Short mutations (Caturra, Pacas, Villa Sarchi), large-bean mutations (Maragogipe), and crosses between them (Catuai, Pacamara). In the second half of the twentieth century, crosses with the rust-resistant Timor Hybrid produced resistant lines such as Catimor and Sarchimor, and beyond those lies the F1 hybrid Starmaya. Geisha alone is a line collected in Ethiopia that reached the world almost unchanged.
Family tree
The family tree of varieties (generations run top to bottom)
← Scroll sideways →
- Ethiopian landraces → Typica (via Yemen)
- Ethiopian landraces → Bourbon (via Yemen)
- Ethiopian landraces → Geisha
- Typica → Maragogipe
- Typica → Mundo Novo
- Bourbon → Mundo Novo
- Bourbon → Pacas
- Bourbon → Caturra
- Bourbon → Villa Sarchi
- Bourbon → SL28 / SL34
- Canephora → Timor Hybrid
- Maragogipe → Pacamara
- Pacas → Pacamara
- Mundo Novo → Catuai
- Caturra → Catuai
- Caturra → Catimor
- Timor Hybrid → Catimor
- Villa Sarchi → Sarchimor
- Timor Hybrid → Sarchimor
- Sarchimor → Marsellesa
- Sarchimor → Centroamericano
- Wild Ethiopian coffee → Centroamericano
- Marsellesa → Starmaya
- Centroamericano → Starmaya
The ways a variety is born
The lines in the tree do not all mean the same thing. Broadly, varieties come about in the following ways.
- Natural mutation: Caturra, Pacas, Maragogipe
- Natural cross: Mundo Novo, Timor Hybrid
- Crossing and selection by research institutes: Catuai, Pacamara, Catimor
- Selection from existing trees: SL28, SL34
- F1 hybrid: Centroamericano, Starmaya
- Collection of a native line: Geisha
Their characters side by side
Traits
Variety characters side by side
| Variety | Origin | Height | Yield | Leaf rust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typica | Native line | Tall | Low | Weak |
| Bourbon | Native line | Tall | 20–30% more than Typica | Weak |
| Geisha | Collected in Ethiopia | Tall and slender | About half a typical variety | — |
| Caturra | Mutation | Short (dwarf) | High (needs fertilizer) | Weak |
| Catuai | Bred by hand | Short | High | — |
| SL28 / SL34 | Selection | — | — | Weak (also to CBD) |
| Pacamara | Bred by hand | — | Low | — |
| Starmaya | F1 hybrid | — | — | Resistant |
The triangle of yield, disease and taste
Looking back over the history of varieties, it has been a process of trial and error over how to balance three things: yield, disease resistance and cup quality. Varieties like Typica and Geisha taste excellent but yield little; varieties like Caturra yield well but are vulnerable to leaf rust. Lines that took in the Timor Hybrid became resistant to disease, but for a long time struggled in cup evaluations.
New F1 hybrids such as Starmaya are the latest attempt to satisfy all three at once. Varieties are not a fixed classification; they are still being updated.
Where Vietnam connects
The Arabica we carry from Cầu Đất and Sơn La is Catimor in both cases. Trace the family tree back and you arrive at Caturra, found in Brazil, and the Timor Hybrid, born from a natural cross with Canephora. In Sơn La, plots growing Starmaya on a trial basis have also appeared.
A variety name is a starting point
A variety name is a clue to a coffee's character, but it does not promise a taste. Even with the same variety, the cup changes a great deal with the altitude where it was planted, how it was managed and how it was processed. Use the family tree as a map for reading those clues.
