Coffee varieties are the diverse subspecies derived through selective breeding or natural selection of coffee plants. While there is tremendous variability encountered in both wild and cultivated coffee plants, there are a few varieties and cultivars that are commercially important due to various unique and inherent traits such as disease resistance and fruit yield. These unique traits are what producers use to select breeds when developing crops. Therefore, at a micro level, breed selection is critical to the success of a producer and is one of the key components of cup quality.
At a macro level, the viability of the coffee industry as a whole is dependent upon breed selection. Already, the majority of coffee produced originates from producers using selected breeds. For this reason, breed selection is an important aspect of sustainability within coffee production.