From a botanical point of view, the coffee plant belongs to the genus Coffea in the family Rubiaceae, which includes around 500 genera and more than 6,000 different species worldwide.
Basically, the two species used are Coffea arabica (Arabica coffee) and Coffea canephora (Robusta coffee), which originate from Africa. The species Coffea liberica and Coffea excelsa are also grown to a lesser extent.
The two main types, Arabica and Robusta, are easy to tell apart from the outside. Arabica beans have a curved cut in the middle, while the slightly smaller and rounder Robusta beans have a straight cut. The fact that Arabica beans have 44 chromosomes, twice as many as Robusta beans, is reflected in the greater variety of flavors of Arabica beans.
