Countries

Colombia

Brazil

Ethiopia

Uganda

Honduras

Nicaragua

Vietnam

Indonesia

Costa Rica

Guatemala

India

Mexico

Peru

Kenya

Brazil produces about a third of the world's coffee, making the country by far the world's largest producer. Coffee plantations, covering some 27,000 km² (10,000 sq mi), are mainly located in the southeastern states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná where the environment and climate provide ideal growing conditions.

• The coffees from Brazil are described according to the standards of the New York stock exchange (NY). The description NY 2,3,4 etc refers to the number of defects of the grain.
• Also, the screen size is referred to as one more characterization meaning bean size. This can be 14, 15, 16 and more. Screen 17/18 is the second-largest possible bean size. The large, consistent beans are between 6.75 and 7 millimetres.

The flavor profiles in Brazil are described by terms such as strictly soft, fine cup (FC) and good cup (GC). The FC has a softer taste compared to the GC.

Brazil

Ethiopia is the fifth country in the world in terms of arabica production and the first country in Africa. Ethiopia is the country where arabica came from.

Almost 20% of the population of 100 million people are employed in the cultivation, processing and trade of coffee in this country. Coffee provides a significant part of export earnings, so coffee for Ethiopia is a national pride and an important part of life.

• The main regions in Ethiopia are Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Limu, Jima, Lekempti and Harrar.
• The coffee names from these regions go along with a certain grade, such as Sidamo grade 4, Limu grade 2, etc.
• Grades depend on visual inspection for defects and on cup quality. There are nine grades. Grade 1 and 2 are considered specialty coffee, grade 3-9 are classified as commercial coffee.

Ethiopia

Uganda is famous for its Rubusta since this coffee species grows wild here which is quite rare. That is why along with Ethiopia that is the "motherland" of Arabica, Uganda is often referred to as the "motherland" of Robusta.

The lower lying lands of the central regions have been proved to be very well suited for the cultivation of this species.

The lower lying lands of the central regions have been proved to be very well suited for the cultivation of this species.

Uganda

Process is natural, without using fertilizers and is called DRUGAR (Dried Uganda Arabica).

Like Kenyan coffee, green grains from Uganda are classified by grades, which in fact reflects the size (screen):

• The highest "commercial" grade AA is the largest and of the highest quality, but still a common grain. The size can be compared with the screen of Brazilian Arabica 18+.
• Grade AB can include both grains of size A (screen 17/18) and slightly smaller B (screen 15/16). Thus AB means a screen spread from 15 to 18.

A powerfull Arabica producer that competes closely with Ethiopia.

Farmers cultivate almost only Arabica, the main varieties: bourbon, caturra, tipica, katuai and display. Harvesting is manual.

Due to the abundance of precipitation, berry processing is carried out almost exclusively by washing.

Honduran coffee is not sorted by grades or defects, as it is done in Brazil or, for example, Colombia. The main "technical" characteristic is the height of growth, following the Mexican approach:

• Strictly High Grown (SHG) — "strictly alpine", coffee harvested above 1400 m above sea level.
• High Grown (HG) — "alpine", 1200-1400 m. Central Standard (CS) — "central standard", up to 1200 m
• EP means European Preparation. EP beans are Screen 15+ with a low defect tolerance.

The higher the coffee grows, the less oxygen is in the atmosphere, respectively, the slower the maturation process proceeds - as a result, the grain becomes denser. The densest grains maximize the acidity that is responsible for the taste characteristics of coffee, and therefore coffee growing higher is valued more.

There is also sorting by the screen (size) of grains, but it is rarely indicated for the final buyer. In general, coffee beans from Honduras are normally varies from 15 to 18 screens.

Main regions are Copan, Opalaka and Montecillos.

Honduras

In Nicaragua, only Arabica is grown. The main areas of coffee production: Managua department, Diriamba, San Marcos, Jinotepe, Granada, Chontales, Lake Nicaragua, Nueva Segovia. Historically, the best samples are grown in the Matagalpa and Jinotega zones.

Most of the Nicaraguan aromatic grain is grown on small farms (with an area of no more than 3 hectares) in natural shade, without the use of chemical fertilizers. Despite this, only a small part of producers have licenses for the production of organic coffee.

Surprisingly, coffee in Nicaragua has little in common with analogues from neighboring countries – Honduras and Costa Rica. Rather, it can be compared to delicate and fruity samples from Ethiopia.

Nicaragua

Nicaraguan coffee is characterized by an average body, a clear sourness, a balanced sweet profile, nutty tones in the bouquet, notes of vanilla, caramel, chocolate, citrus.

Varieties of Nicaraguan coffee: Arabica types Bourbon, Caturra, Pacamara, Maracaturra, Cutaui, Catimor, Maragojip.

Processing method: dry, wet, honey (semi-dry, only the skin is removed from the fresh fruit, and the pulp dries in the sun).

• Coffee from Vietnam is sorted by physical size and varies from 12 to 19.
• Grades mean variation of black beans and foreign inclusions (best – first and then descending).

Arabica from Vietnam can be processed both washed and natural – to be dry processed. As usual, washed arabica has slightly more sour descriptors in the final taste, but in any case, Vietnamese coffee is coffee with a minimum of sourness. In addition to chocolate, fruits are distinguishable in the aroma – apricot, peach, cherry, and vanilla.

The main varieties of Arabica grown are bourbon and katimor. Unlike, for example, Ethiopia, in Vietnam, most coffee terraces lack the shade of large trees.

Vietnam is the #2 coffee producer in general and is the largest producer of green robusta coffee in the world. Vietnam also produces Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world. However, Brazil has entered into a single combat with Vietnam for leadership in the production of robusta coffee. The main growing region is the "Central Upland", also known as "Tai Nguyen", which includes the provinces of Lamdong (the city of Dalat is located here), Daknong, Daklak, Zialai and Kontum. It is believed that on average the best Arabica grows in the area of the city of Dalat.

Almost all coffee, including a few Arabica, is grown at altitudes around 1200-1600 meters on basalt soils. The tropical monsoon climate prevails here with a noticeable difference between night and daytime temperatures. This contributes to the formation of a more complex taste with different shades.

Vietnam

Indonesia is the world's fourth largest coffee exporter. 90% of production is robusta. Robusta grows mainly in southern Sumatra and eastern Java.

Arabica is grown mainly on the islands of Sumatra (Mandeling, Kerinci, Lampung, Lintong, Gayo, Aceh), Sulawesi (Toraja, Enrekang, Mamasa, Gowa), Java (Ijen Plateau). All coffes isprocessed manually. The vast majority of coffee is grown on small farms with an area of about 1 hectare. Moreover, the yield in the country is low.

• As in the most advanced coffee exporting countries, such as Brazil or Colombia, it is customary in Indonesia to classify coffee according to various signs and criteria: region and height of growth (typically 900-1700 meters), processing method, number of defects per sample – grade (best – first and then descending), grain size (screen).

Indonesia

Robusta is overwhelmingly processed by the dry method.

Arabica is more often processed wet – this is practiced mainly in Java, but it is also found in Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali.

Most of the producers of Sumatra (the vast majority here), Sulawesi, Flores and Papua process berries in an original way for Indonesia called "Wet-hull", or "Giling Basah".

Peru closes the top ten coffee producers and exporters in the world. But if we talk only about the production of Arabica, then the country ranks 5, because all Peruvian coffee is Arabica, and 70% of the variety is typica, and 20% is caturra, Robusta is not grown there.

At the same time, Peru is the largest supplier of "organic coffee", this is the one that is produced without chemical fertilizers. And in general, the country exports about 95% of the harvested crop, a third to the United States. There are about 100,000 producers in the country, and the vast majority are small farms with an area of about 4-5 hectares.

Coffee trees grow in the shade of taller plants, harvested by hand from April to September. Almost all the plantations are located on the eastern slopes of the Andes – the longest mountain system on Earth (length about 9000 km).

It is not surprising that all Peruvian coffee is quite alpine. In total, coffee is grown in about 50 provinces in Peru, but the main ones are distributed like this:

North. Cajamarca region: provinces of Jaen, San Ignacio, Cutervo. Piura region: Huancabamba Province. Regions of Amazonas, San Martin.
Centre. Junin region: the provinces of Changchamayo, Satipo. Pasco region: Villa Rica, Oxapampa provinces. Huanuco region.
South. Ayacucho region: provinces of El Mar, Juante. The regions of Cusco, Puno.

Peru

• Most often, abbreviations such as SHB, HB can be found in the characteristics and even just in the name of a lot. These are synonyms for the designations SHG and HG, adopted, for example, in Mexico or Guatemala. They indicate the height of the crop.

• SHB (strictly hard bean), like SHG (strictly high grown), says that the grains are grown at altitudes from 1400 meters above sea level or higher.

• Accordingly, HB (hard bean), as well as HG for Mexico (high grown), signals growth heights of 1200-1400 meters above sea level

• Also, occasionally you can find information about the "grade", i.e. the quality of the original green grains. As in the case of Ethiopia, the grade of Peruvian coffee is tied to the number of defects. The fewer of them, the higher the grade, the higher the first – no more than 15 defects per 300 grams, and further downwards.

Peruvian coffee can be described as a light, nutritious, well-balanced drink without flashy descriptors (shades of taste) or distortions in acidity or bitterness. The body of the drink is medium or light, tea.

India is one of the TOP 10 coffee producers in the world and may soon outperform Honduras. Almost all production is concentrated in the south of the country in three states: Karnataka (about 70%), Kerala (20%) and Tamil Nadu (5%). 98% of farms have an area of less than 10 hectares, that is, they are small producers who manually harvest and hand over for processing to exporting companies.

Two-thirds of the coffee produced in India is robusta. Unlike robusta from Uganda, Indian one has a more even cocoa profile with less earthy taste. Typical heights of coffee growth in India: for robusta – 500-1000 meters above sea level, for Arabica – 1000-1500 m.








Farms are almost always located in the shade of other, taller trees and surrounded by spices: cardamom, cloves, nutmeg. It is not surprising that coffee made from Indian beans has, in particular, just these descriptors (shades of taste).Robusta is processed in the usual washed way. But arabica almost always has a "branded", "monsoon" treatment, although there are rare exceptions, up to experimental, anaerobic.

India

Grain size has the following classification:

• AA – screen 18+.
• A – screen 17/18.
• B – screen 15/16.
• AB – screen spread from 15 to 18

In recent years, Costa Rica has been gradually losing ground in terms of the amount of grain exported and is hanging out in the ranking around 15th place, somewhere on the level of Kenya. And here the neighborhood with Kenya, which produces almost exclusively excellent coffee, looks just natural – the grain from Costa Rica is considered the best in Latin America.

Coffee is grown here on the slopes of the mountains, the average heights are quite large 1000-1600 meters.

The volcanic soil of the country is rich in minerals. Coffee trees grow in the shade of larger tropical plants – bananas, legumes. Picking berries is almost exclusively manual. Most farms are quite small, they are still larger than in other Central American countries – the average area is 20 hectares. There are 8 main coffee–producing regions in the country, and one of them – Tarrazu - generates a third of all production.

All coffee from Costa Rica is still exclusively Arabica. The most popular varieties: katurra, katuai, Villa sarchi, bourbon. Previously, almost all the berries underwent standard washing treatment, but now, despite the same name (washed), the berry is almost always processed mechanically, i.e. semi-washed.











Since the labor force in the country is in principle expensive, it is difficult for Costa Rica to compete in the market of "simple commercial coffee" with countries such as Brazil and Colombia - coffee from there is on average quite expensive, more expensive than all neighbors. Such coffee is much more complex and interesting in a cup. As a result, the country has focused on real "specialty coffee", which receives ratings of 85+ points, and the price of which, in principle, cannot be low regardless of the country of origin.

Costa Rica

Coffee from Costa Rica, first of all, is classified by the height of growth. For this purpose, the terminology of "hardness" of grain, like Peru, is adopted in the designation:

• SHB (Strictly Hard Beans): More than 1200 meters.
• GHB or just HB (Good Hard Beans, Hard Beans): 1000 – 1200 meters.
• MHB (Medium Hard Beans): 500 – 900 meters.
• Plus, there is a classification by grain size (screen) and the number of defects.

Mexico is among the TOP 10 largest coffee producers, the main coffee-producing regions of Mexico have not changed over time and include five states: Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Puebla and Hidalgo. Moreover, the first three produce about three quarters of all coffee.

There are about half a million farms in the country, and the vast majority have an area of less than 5 hectares. The typical height of coffee trees varies by region. In Veracruz, the terroir is more low-lying, so there are prevailing heights from 400 to 1000 meters, but a small part of the coffee grows higher. And in Chiapas, on the contrary, from 900 to 1700 m are typical values. Most of the plantations are located in the shade of other trees that protect coffee from the sun: magnolia, chaloon. All these states have a warm humid climate, volcanic soil, which gives a calm but interesting taste in a cup. The main type of cultivated coffee is Arabica.

Varieties: typica, caturra, bourbon, mundo novo, maragojip. The prevailing method of processing is washed, but there are both dry and a lot of experimental methods. Robusta is practically not grown – less than 5% of the total production.

Mexico

Mexican maragogype. There are many places in this country where this coffee is grown, but the one that comes from the Chiapas region is considered the best. Less tart and dense than Nicaraguan, lighter and more nutritious.

• The height of growth is sometimes encoded in the abbreviation HG (High Grown, 1200-1400 m) or SHG (Strictly High Grown, from 1400 meters).

A set of descriptors (shades of taste) peculiar to Mexico: it's a mixture of cocoa/chocolate, nuts, vanilla and citrus sourness at the beginning of consumption, and dried fruits, red berries on cooling.

Spices appear in the aftertaste – nutmeg, cinnamon, wine tartness. Since most of the grain comes from the state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, then the coffee in the cup, its taste and aroma are similar to Guatemalan.

Guatemala is not even in the top ten countries producing coffee. Nevertheless, coffee exports bring about 40% of income among agricultural crops.

The main buyer is the USA, where Guatemala is one of the leaders among suppliers. The proximity to tropical plants, which just protect coffee from the sun, gives it sweet shades of fruit. Most of the coffee from Guatemala is alpine (this may be indicated by the abbreviation in the name "SHG" – Strictly High Grown), plantations are located from 1400 meters above sea level or higher. This adds to the taste and aroma notes of pleasant citrus sourness – orange, grapefruit.

The third feature is the predominance of volcanic soils rich in minerals and plantations are usually located on slopes or at the foot. Minerals, which are rich in local soils, give characteristic descriptors (shades of taste) of chocolate, cocoa, spicy spices.

The main type of coffee tree grown is Arabica, robusta is almost not produced, and varieties are bourbon, caturra, less catuai, typica. There are also maragojip, pace, pakamara, geisha, etc. The vast majority, and perhaps the whole coffee is harvested by hand due to the complexity of the terrain. In total, Guatemala has 8 coffee production regions.

The most famous are Acatenango Valley, Antigua, Highland Huehue. Regarding the such characteristics as grade, size, grain quality, as is customary in many coffee–producing countries, lots usually do not have any additional information. The exception is Maragojip (it is normally marked right in the name).The taste is dominated by chocolate, cocoa, hazelnuts, cashews, but unlike classic Brazil, there are always fruity, citrus notes and they are distinct, but not intrusive – most often orange and red orange, grapefruit, tangerine.

Typical sweetness is honey, caramel. There will be more acidity and sweetness from the high-altitude regions of the country, but it's still not some Ethiopia, or even Colombia. The body is medium.

Guatemala