Coffee lovers often ask: where in the world is coffee grown? This article systematically reviews coffee cultivation in major producing regions including South America, Central America, the West Indies, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Hawaii, covering more than twenty countries and regions such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Indonesia. From production scale to flavor characteristics, from grade classification to optimal roast level, the unique qualities of coffee from each region are explained one by one. Whether you are a just-starting beginner or a seasoned enthusiast, this producing-region guide can help you understand the diversity of the coffee world more clearly. Front Street Coffee has also compiled representative beans from each region for you, making it easy to compare and choose.
● Brazil (South America)
As the country with the world's largest coffee production, Brazil produces coffee across various grades and categories, accounting for about one-third of global consumption and occupying an important position in the international coffee trading market. Although Brazil experiences natural disasters more frequently than other producing regions, its vast planting area is enough to offset these losses. Brazil has a rich variety of coffee, but its industry policy favors large-volume, low-cost production, so the proportion of top specialty beans is not high; however, they are very suitable as a blending base. The most representative is Santos coffee, with a mellow aroma and neutral taste, which can be brewed directly or blended with other beans to make combination coffee. Other coffees such as those from Rio and Parana, due to rough management and large output, have relatively coarse flavors, but excel in cost-effectiveness. Because production areas are spread across the country and quality varies, Brazil has established an independent grading standard: according to impurity content, grades range from NO.2 to NO.8; according to bean size, from NO.13 to NO.19; and according to flavor, there are six grades. Almost all Arabica varieties are of good quality, and prices are stable. The most famous "Brazil-Santos" has long been an essential option in coffee blends and is well known to the public. In recent years, the "Dulma Cup" has also received relatively high praise.
● Superior bean: Santos NO.2, size NO.18
● Flavor characteristics: mild, moderate acidity and bitterness, soft aroma.
● Best roast level: medium roast
● Colombia (South America)
Colombia is the world's second-largest coffee-producing country, with output second only to Brazil, and it is also the leader in the Colombia-Mild group (including Colombia, Tanzania, and Kenya) (note: the Colombia-Mild group is one of the origin classifications used by the New York Exchange, along with Other Milds, Unwashed Arabica, and Robusta). Well-known producing areas include "Medellin," "Manizales," "Bogota," and "Armenia." The coffee beans grown are all Arabica, with rich flavor, and both quality and price are quite stable; after roasting, the beans appear fuller and more beautiful. It produces everything from lower-grade to high-grade products, among which there are rare specialty coffees in the world, with a mellow aroma that makes them hard to put down.
● Superior bean: Colombia Supremo / Excelso (larger beans other than Supremo)
● Flavor characteristics: strong and heavy acidity, bitterness, and sweetness, with a color like well-brewed wine.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Mexico (Central America)
Mexico is a major coffee-producing country in Central America, and its coffee has a comfortable taste and charming aroma. Top-grade Mexican coffees include Coatepec, Huatusco, and Orizaba, among which Coatepec is considered one of the best coffees in the world. The geographical and climatic conditions of the country's coffee-growing areas are similar to those of southern Guatemala, so it is classified within "Central America." The main producing areas are distributed in states such as Veracruz and Oaxaca, especially the washed coffee beans from the highlands, which show outstanding aroma and acidity. Specifications are divided by altitude into three major categories: Altura (4000-4200 ft), Prima Lavado (2800-3300 ft), and Buen Lavado (2100-2500 ft). Most products are sold to the United States.
● Superior bean: Mexico Altura
● Flavor characteristics: large beans with lively acidity and sweetness, and a rich aroma.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Guatemala (Central America)
Central Guatemala grows world-famous, excellent-flavored coffee. The beans often carry charred notes and cocoa aroma, with slightly stronger acidity. This is the coffee bean most familiar to Japanese people. The first producing area is San Marcos, adjacent to the mountainous region of Mexico, and the second is Chimaltenango in Zacapa. In addition, Coban and Antigua are also very famous. Slightly acidic, aromatic, mellow, and smooth, it is an excellent material for blended coffee. Classification is divided into seven grades by altitude; coffee produced at higher elevations is more aromatic and mellow, while lowland coffee beans are relatively lower in quality.
● Superior bean: Guatemala-SHB
● Flavor characteristics: bitter and aromatic, with a good mouthfeel.
● Best roast level: dark
● El Salvador (Central America)
Along with Mexico and Guatemala, it is one of the producing countries of the Other Milds group, and it is competing with other countries for first or second place in Central America. Highland products are of excellent quality, with large and evenly sized beans, rich aroma, and a mild taste. Here too, coffee is divided by altitude into three grades: SHB (strictly high grown) highland, HEC (high grown central) mid-highland, and CS (central standard) lowland.
● Superior bean: El Salvador-SHB
● Flavor characteristics: mild and moderate acidity, bitterness, and sweetness.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Honduras (Central America)
Washed coffee beans from mountainous areas are more highly praised, while those produced in lowlands are slightly inferior in quality. Well-known producing areas include Santa Barbara, Gracias, Comayagua in the east, and Choluteca near Nicaragua. The beans are medium to large in size, characterized by a mild taste. High-quality products are also divided into three grades by altitude.
● Superior bean: Honduras-SHB
● Flavor characteristics: acidic with slight sweetness.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Costa Rica (Central America)
Coffee beans produced in Costa Rica's high-altitude areas are world-famous: rich, mild, but with extremely strong acidity. The coffee beans here undergo fine processing, so the quality is very high. Famous coffee comes from the Central Plateau, where the soil consists of continuous layers of volcanic ash and volcanic dust. Superior coffee is aromatic and acidic, and highly rated. Producing areas are roughly divided into three regions: the Pacific coast, the Atlantic coast, and the central zone, each graded by altitude. All coffee beans are quite large, especially those produced in the highlands along the Pacific coast, which are acidic and aromatic and belong to the superior category; a new brand, "Cordillera de Talamanca," has also appeared. Coffee beans from the lowlands along the Atlantic coast are acidic but not mellow, with nothing particularly special about them.
● Superior bean: Costa Rica-Cordillera de Talamanca
● Flavor characteristics: moderate acidity and aromatic mellowness.
● Best roast level: medium
● Cuba (West Indies)
Cuba is famous for producing sugar, tobacco, and coffee, and consists of Cuba, the largest island in the West Indies, plus other dependent islands. Coffee was introduced by the French from Haiti in the mid-eighteenth century. The beans are characterized as medium to large, bright green, high-quality beans. Grades are classified by bean size into ETL (extra large), TL (medium), and AL (ordinary). "Cristal Mountain" is Cuba's proudest high-quality, large-sized premium coffee bean.
● Superior bean: Cuba-Cristal Mountain
● Flavor characteristics: stable taste. Balanced acidity, bitterness, and sweetness.
● Best roast level: medium
● Jamaica (West Indies)
Jamaica's national treasure Blue Mountain coffee is close to perfect in every respect. Just like wine, many estates have now been bought by Japanese people. In recent years, Japanese people have bought most Jamaican coffee, and it has already become hard to find on the market. It is said that Britain has not been able to buy it for four years, and the spending power of East Asians is truly astonishing. Jamaica is a republic made up of large and small islands in the Caribbean Sea. Coffee is cultivated on the slopes of the mountains that cut across the island. Producing areas are divided into three regions: BM (Blue Mountain), HM (High Mountain), and PW (Prime Washed coffee beans); these are also coffee brand names. Their ranking by quality and price is 1, 2, 3, while their ranking by production volume is 3, 2, 1. Among them, "Blue Mountain" has a highly balanced flavor, aroma, body, and acidity, and is extremely highly rated. Almost all products are sold to Japan.
● Superior bean: Blue Mountain / High Mountain
● Flavor characteristics: consistent acidity, bitterness, and sweetness, with good aroma as well.
● Best roast level: light to medium
● Kenya (Africa)
Kenya grows high-quality Arabica coffee beans. The beans absorb almost the essence of the entire coffee cherry, with slight acidity and a thick aroma, and are very popular among Europeans, especially in the United Kingdom, where Kenyan coffee surpassed Costa Rican coffee to become one of the most popular coffees. Kenya is located below the equator in East Africa. The coffee beans grown are high-quality Arabica, medium to large in size, very rich and flavorful, with medium acidity. Grades are divided into seven levels by bean size, and into six levels by flavor from high to low. Among them, "Kenya AA" is especially highly praised.
● Superior bean: Kenya AA (double A)
● Flavor characteristics: strongly acidic and aromatic, the favorite of Germans.
● Best roast level: dark
● Ethiopia (Africa)
The homeland of Arabica coffee, grown in high-altitude areas, requiring a great deal of careful manual care. Here there is the famous Ethiopian Mocha, with acidity similar to wine, a rich aroma, and abundant output. Unfortunately, some farmers still do not understand the benefits of picking the fruit and let it fall before picking it up from the ground. However, in recent years, as the market has expanded, coffee traders have worked to improve harvesting and processing methods, hoping to increase output. Famous coffee-producing areas come from the Jima area in the southwest and the Sidamo area in the south, and the eastern highland Harar is also famous for coffee. The beans are small and aromatic. Special names such as "Harar-Mocha" and "Longberry" have unique flavors and are usually simply called "Mocha." Specifications are divided into G1 to G8 according to the proportion of defective beans mixed in. Recently, the high-quality "Wash Ethiopia" has attracted the most attention.
● Superior bean: Harar BG (board grain) \ LB (long berry)
● Flavor characteristics: excellent aroma and acidity; washed coffee has strong acidity.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Yemen (Africa)
Yemen's Mocha coffee was once all the rage and stirred up a Mocha whirlwind around the world. Unfortunately, the good times did not last. Amid political turmoil and a lack of planned cultivation, Mocha production is very unstable. Even so, Mocha is still the soul player when paired with other coffee beans or in combination coffee. Yemen is commonly known as Arabia and is the birthplace of Arabica. It was once all the rage under the name "Mocha coffee," though its glory days are gone. Still, its wine-like flavor and rich, aromatic characteristics keep it highly favored by consumers as an after-dinner coffee. Along with coffees produced in Brazil and Colombia, it is chosen as one of the three musketeers of blended coffee. "Mattari" from the Bani Matar region and "Sanani" from the Sanaa region are also quite famous, and "Golden Mattari" is also produced in Bani Matar.
● Superior bean: Golden Mattari
● Flavor characteristics: slightly acidic with a strong finish, and also sweet.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Indonesia (Southeast Asia)
When talking about Indonesian coffee, one absolutely cannot omit Sumatra's high-grade Mandheling. Its unique rich taste and slightly acidic flavor make its quality arguably the best in the world. In addition, the Arabica coffee produced in Java is a favorite of Europeans, with bitterness carrying sweetness and sweetness carrying a lingering acidic aftertaste that does not fade for a long time. The main producing areas are Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi, of which 90% is Robusta, with quality that can be called the best in the world. Sumatra is most famous for the rich, smooth, top-grade "Mandheling," but importers have repeatedly criticized it for inferior quality and difficulty in processing and preservation. In addition, the northern part of the island also produces "Gayo Mountain," and Java's "Java-Arabica" has good acidity and is especially loved by the Dutch. Sulawesi produces the large-beaned "Kalosi," represented by "Toraja" from the Toraja area in the southwestern mountainous region (1,200 meters above sea level), among others.
● Superior bean: Sumatra-Mandheling
● Flavor characteristics: bitter and rich, also sweet.
● Best roast level: dark
● Hawaii (Hawaii)
When sightseeing in Hawaii, besides the beautiful beaches, do not forget Hawaii's coffee bean-Kona. The taste is sweet with a pleasant wine-like acidity, very distinctive. It comes from Kona on the southwest coast of Hawaii, which is Hawaii's most traditional and famous coffee. However, production here is not high, while costs are surprisingly expensive. In addition, as demand for single-origin coffee in the United States and elsewhere gradually increases, the unit price is getting higher and higher, and it is not easy to buy. Coffee cultivation in Hawaii began with Japanese immigrants, but now many coffee farmers have switched to growing macadamia nuts, causing coffee production to drop sharply. Nevertheless, the widely known "Hawaii-Kona" is still an aromatic and acidic superior coffee bean. In particular, coffee beans from perennial coffee trees have a slight acidity that can produce a unique flavor and are called "Perennial Kona," receiving high praise. Aged beans especially have a unique soft acidity similar to that produced by brewing. "Aged Kona" is very popular.
● Superior bean: Hawaii Kona
● Flavor characteristics: strong acidity, aromatic and mellow, all with tropical flavor.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Angola
This is the world's fourth-largest coffee-producing country, but it produces only a small amount of Arabica coffee. Its high quality goes without saying, but unfortunately political turmoil has made annual output extremely unstable.
● Superior bean: Arabica
● Flavor characteristics: excellent aroma and acidity.
● Best roast level: medium to dark
● Peru
Peruvian coffee, a rising star, is gradually gaining recognition and entering the world market. It is mostly grown in high-altitude areas, and planned cultivation has greatly increased output. The taste is aromatic and mellow, with just the right acidity, and more and more people are coming to like it.
● Superior bean: Peru
● Flavor characteristics: aromatic and mellow taste, with just the right acidity.
● Best roast level: medium
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
