Finca de Garces' Typica Varietal: Not Your Typical Coffee

For our third installment of the Finca de Garces Series, we’re featuring the Typica varietal and how it is typically grown and harvested.

Typica is a fundamental (if not the most important) varietal there is. Originating in Ethiopia, the Typica-group spread to Yemen, India, Java, and Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries. It reached various countries, including Brazil, Martinique, Jamaica, and Cuba. While once dominant in the Americas, it has been replaced due to low yields and susceptibility to diseases. However, they are still grown in Peru, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and other coffee-yielding countries (including the Philippines.)

The Typica varietal has garnered a reputation for its sweet, juicy, and elegantly complex profile. As we dive into the depths of this distinguished coffee, it is quite notable that Typica almost always has a symphony of flavors reminiscent of tropical fruits, floral undertones, and a hint of tea-like essence. 

Typica varietals are tall in stature, featuring long and widely spaced branches, and their leaf tips are bronze in color. One notable difference lies in the spacing of the internodes, with a slighter gap between them compared to other varieties. Typica’s larger size requires more space, limiting the number of coffee plants or other crops that can be cultivated. Additionally, their height and size demand increased time and labor for proper care and maintenance. The fruits, or the cherries, are noticeably more elongated. 

This is Finca de Garces’ first harvest for the Typica varietal. While some farmers now are quite hesitant to produce coffee from this varietal due to its susceptibility to diseases, the farm’s terroir actually makes up for it. For a Typica to yield high-quality premium coffee, it must be meticulously farmed at an altitude of at least 1600 MASL, which puts Finca de Garces’ at a natural advantage given its location.

Typica may be a handful to grow because of their sensitivity to rust and other diseases, but with farms like Finca de Garces which has a vigor for exploring out-of-the-ordinary coffee processes and farming techniques, we might get the chance to experience more of this varietal.

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