Milenio Coffee Variety: What Is The Story?

We all know the big coffee varieties of Arabica and Robusta. And coffee lovers know that within those varieties are hundreds of sub-varieties. It’s an endless world where we explore various coffees, such as Bourbon and Geisha.

But what happens when coffee scientists start to breed and mix coffee plants? We get something called a hybrid coffee, like the Milenio coffee variety—it’s a mix of two other varieties that produces a unique and delicious cup of coffee.

We’re looking at the Milenio today; it’s a highly rust-resistant plant with an incredibly high yield.

Milenio Variety: An Overview

The Milenio is an F1 hybrid varietal that has a high yield. High yield means that the plant produces a lot of coffee cherries, which means coffee beans.

Furthermore, F1 coffee refers to a coffee that’s a first-generation hybrid. Hybrid coffee varieties are a way to combat two of the most problematic aspects of coffee plants: disease and a lack of diversity.

So, creating hybrid coffee varietals like Milenio means coffee plants are more resistant to disease and have more biodiversity (1). Being rust resistant is important for coffee plants as Coffee Leaf Rust causes upwards of two billion dollars (2).

Plus, the Milenio variety doesn’t require a high elevation to grow. Higher elevations produce better coffees from this plant, but we also get good results from medium elevations; that makes it an excellent option for farmers at medium elevations.

Another hybrid varietal is the H3 hybrid—an Ethiopian-specific hybrid helping to create diversity within Ethiopian coffee plants.

Where Does the Milenio Bean Variety Come From?

The Milenio is a cross between two following varieties:

1. The T5296 variety is a robust, disease-resistant, medium-yield variety from Ethiopia.
2. The Rume Sudan is a rare, delicious, low-yield coffee from Sudan.

Because of the ancestry of Milenio, it’s very similar to the Centroamericano variety. These days, Milenio is most commonly found in Costa Rica.

Milenio Beans Taste Profile

The taste profile of the Milenio variety is typical of Central American coffee. It’s a more delicate coffee that you should brew with care.

It does have a high potential to create phenomenal coffees, but it isn’t a uniform variety. That means that from generation to generation of coffee plants, there is a lot of variance in quality.

Final Thoughts

The Milenio is one of a rising number of hybrid coffee varieties. It comes from one low-yield, rare, and super tasty coffee, while another is a high-yield, disease-resistant coffee.

The cross is Milenio: a rust-resistant, delicious coffee that’s mostly found in Costa Rica. If you’re looking for a quality coffee variety that has notes of tangerine, sugar cane, and dark chocolate, Milenio is for you.