How to Enjoy Latin American Coffee? What Are the Characteristics of Latin American Coffee?

The Evolution of Coffee: From Ancient Discovery to Global Commodity

As living standards rise, enjoying coffee has become a lifestyle trend. How to appreciate a cup of coffee, though, is a profound subject. What knowledge surrounds coffee, and how do the flavors of the various growing regions differ?

A Global Phenomenon

Coffee is arguably the world's most common stimulant "drug" and the most economically valuable beverage. The United States is considered the heaviest coffee-consuming country, going through four hundred million cups a day. In Finland the average person drinks four to five cups daily, the record for individual consumption. Sweden, Italy, Japan, and South Korea are also important coffee-consuming nations.

Ancient Origins

It is believed that in the sixth century AD an Ethiopian shepherd stumbled upon the discovery that after his sheep ate the red fruit of a certain shrub, they became full of energy. He shared the fruit with monks, who found it helped them stay alert during evening prayers. That fruit was coffee. Historians agree that coffee originated in the Ethiopian highlands, where the first method of consumption was to chew the beans directly rather than brew them as we do today.

Spread Through the Islamic World to Europe

In the fifteenth century coffee reached Mecca, and Muslim pilgrims traveling there carried it throughout the Islamic world. From Cairo, Istanbul, and Tehran it eventually arrived in Venice. By the late seventeenth century coffee had become a common commodity in Europe, and coffee-house culture gradually took shape. Because Europeans systematically planned coffee production in their colonies, coffee was able to become a global beverage and an international crop.

Introduction to Latin America

There are several accounts of how coffee came to Latin America. It is generally believed that the French naval officer Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu (1687–1774) stole one, or perhaps several, coffee seedlings from a royal greenhouse in 1720 and brought them to Martinique in the Caribbean, opening prosperous business for Latin American coffee. Another theory holds that the Dutch were the first to transplant coffee to their Latin American colony of Suriname.

The Coffee Growing Belt

The coffee growing belt lies between 25 degrees north and south latitude. The countries within it include not only Ethiopia, Yemen, and Kenya but also vast regions of Latin America. Arabica is a high-altitude variety and the mainstream coffee species. Latin America has many highlands between 600 and 1,500 meters with ample sunlight, making them suitable for Arabica. A coffee plant can be harvested four years after planting, then enters its peak production period and keeps producing for decades — an economic crop with a high return on investment. Coffee is, however, a labor-intensive crop. During the colonial period, plantation owners were local oligarchs and large landowners, and labor came from indigenous people or enslaved Africans. By the late nineteenth century, alongside traditional large plantations, family-run small coffee farms began to appear, while well-funded multinational companies also competed for a share of the coffee market. Behind Latin America's coffee economy lies a history of exploitation, injustice, and monopolized cheap labor.

Market Volatility and Production Challenges

Brazil, the world's largest coffee exporter, accounts for one-third of global production, and its central and southern growing regions have suffered continuous drought since the end of 2013. Production is expected to fall sharply by 30%. On February 17 and 18 prices surged on consecutive days, setting the largest fluctuation in thirteen years. Insufficient moisture during fruit development not only affects quality but may also cause the beans to dry and drop before the May harvest, resulting in total crop failure. The current purchase price averages $2 per pound, already far above the $1.50 at the start of the year. If the drought continues unresolved, $3 per pound is imminent. Coffee production runs into turbulence every two years in a cycle, with inventory levels below incoming shipments and far below consumption. A supply-demand imbalance next year is almost unavoidable.

Central American Coffee Crisis

The international market price of Arabica coffee swung upward, breaking through $180.25 per 45.5 kg bag on February 27, up $70 over the previous three months. For Central American coffee farmers, whose income is extremely unstable and dependent on the weather, soaring prices are not good news, because leaf rust disease has cut harvests and cost them the chance to earn large profits. Looking at the relatively well-known Guatemalan coffee, the Guatemalan Coffee Association Ancafe released export statistics for 2013 through the end of September last year showing 3,706,000 bags, a sharp 38% decrease from the previous fiscal year and the third consecutive alarming figure since 2010. The Honduran Coffee Export Association Adecafeh likewise showed a 24% decline in exports, a loss of $650 million — an unimaginably large impact on extremely poor coffee farmers.

Recovery and Regional Variations

Panama's exports, which fell severely by 30.19% and 18.92% in 2011 and 2012 respectively, have gradually stabilized since 2013 thanks to strong marketing efforts. On Cerro Tute mountain, which reaches 1,800 meters in Veraguas province, Father Hector Gallego established the first coffee farmers' cooperative forty-five years ago, growing organic coffee. "Café Tute," with a taste comparable to exported specialty coffee, continues to deliver the same fragrance at affordable prices to the provincial capital Santiago and neighboring villages through free word-of-mouth, with no advertising spend. Unfortunately, Taiwanese coffee importers missed this opportunity.

Data for the harvest from October 2013 to 2014 from Central American coffee associations show that the severely affected Nicaragua declined by 79.5%, Guatemala by 42.4%, and Costa Rica by 9.1%. In South America, Colombia, Peru, and the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic grew by 47.5%, 14.4%, and 7.6% respectively, partly filling the shortage in the international market.

Flavor Characteristics by Region

If African coffee offers fine berry flavors and Asian coffee distinct herbal, plant-like flavors, then Latin American coffee belongs to the more balanced and varied category.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations:

V60/88-90°C/1:15 ratio/Time: two minutes

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is a world-renowned specialty coffee origin and the birthplace of coffee, home to countless heirloom varieties and a treasured destination for drinkers who want to follow its flavors faithfully. To taste the classic Ethiopian profile, start with the entry-level FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe, which delivers a clear jasmine aroma and bright citrus acidity. Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia, mild the year round, wrapped in mist, cool and humid, where thousands of coffee trees flourish and give rise to the region's distinctive interweaving of florals and fruit acidity — light and elegant, with a tea-like body, as refreshing and clean as lemon tea.

Most Ethiopian coffee follows a garden-plot model, with each smallholder sending the harvested cherries to a village-based processing station and selling under the production team's name, which is why cooperatives of every size appear — FrontStreet's Gedeb, Worka, and Konga among them. The Gedeb cooperative, in the Worka district at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe, was originally part of the Worka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union. As demand grew for traceability, independent single-origin lots were uncovered one by one by coffee hunters around the world, and in 2012 Gedeb, with roughly 300 member farmers, was established as its own cooperative. Because the pulp is stripped before drying, FrontStreet's Gedeb shows its inherent aromatics more clearly, with citrus and lemon tones and an elegant white florality — a bright, delicate cup overall.

For natural-process lovers, FrontStreet's Sun-Dried Red Cherry is a dependable choice: it skips the washing step, discards damaged or moldy cherries, and dries in the sun for two weeks so the sugars and essence of the fruit seep fully into the beans. Once moisture falls to 12%, the hardened pulp, mucilage, and parchment are scraped away, and the beans are screened for density and color, with defects removed and any missed flaws hand-picked out by workers — every bean a specialty-grade one, guaranteeing a clean, refined cup with a rich, alluring fruit aroma. Its flavor notes are peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon. FrontStreet's Sun-Dried Huakui, from the Hambella district of Guji in Sidamo, is grown on a 200-hectare farm using traditional natural processing: the ripe cherries are spread on raised beds for 21 days and turned constantly for even drying, with defective or moldy beans hand-sorted every three to five days. Because the fruit and skin remain on throughout drying, a medium-light roast yields a light fermented-wine aroma, florals, citrus, and mango, with a much richer, more complex body, honeyed sweetness, and cocoa notes touched with spice, plus a thick body and a lasting finish.