Few people might know that there are actually 5 varieties of coffee beans. Fewer still are those who know about the fifth bean. Most of us would know about Arabica and Robusta because these are the most common coffee bean variety that cafes use or are for sale out there. And coffee blends would typically contain a combination of these 2 popular beans.

The other 3--Liberica, Excelsa, and Peaberry--are not as common or well-known, but also cannot be discounted for the uniqueness of their taste. Out of these 3, I've only tasted Liberica, which is what Batangas' famous Kapeng Barako is made of. It is quite strong and bitter but tastes good just the same.

Image from suzukicoffee.com.sg

ARABICA
The most popular variety of coffee bean, making about 70% of the world's supply of coffee, arabica has a soft, sweet taste with a slight acidic taste and a chocolaty and caramelly aftertaste. It grows at high altitudes of about 600 to 2,000 meters, most notably in the highlands of Ethiopia, Indonesia, Hawai, Jamaica, Brazil, and the Philippines, to name a few.

ROBUSTA
If arabica makes 70% of the world's supply of coffee, then robusta takes about 25%. It is considered as lowland coffee because it grows on lower altitudes than arabica beans, about 0 to 800 meters. Coffee made from robusta has a stronger, more bitter taste and also has a higher caffeine content than arabica. Fast fact: most of our instant coffee is made from robusta.

LIBERICA
One of the lesser known coffee bean is the Liberica, which represents about 2% of the world's coffee supply. Like the robusta, it is a lowland coffee grown primarily in Malaysia and in the Philippines (where it is popularly known as Kapeng Barako). In terms of size, liberica is the largest among the coffee varieties, with the plants growing to as tall as 18 meters. It is noted to have a mild nutty taste, although from experience, I find that Kapeng Barako has a strong, bitter taste.

EXCELSA
Because of its rarity, few people have ever tasted coffee made from excelsa. It is rare because it is not easy to grow excelsa coffee. The tree bears fruit irregularly and that makes it hard to produce and sell to a market. And then specific conditions must be met for it to bear fruit. The excelsa coffee is said to have an exotic jackfruit taste and fruity and sweet aroma.

The pea on the left (image from seriouseats.com)

PEABERRY
It's not a totally different type of coffee bean than the other 4 above, but instead it's an anomaly. Usually coffee beans grow in twos inside a coffee berry. However, once in a while a freak of nature occurs and a berry will only have one bean inside. This is the peaberry. While the other beans have one flat side due to sharing with the other bean in the fruit, the peaberry is rounder, having all the space to itself as it develops. Some say coffee made from these beans are sweeter and more flavorful, but other say it doesn't taste any different.