How to Drink Latin American Coffee Latin American Coffee Growing Culture Latin American Coffee Characteristics

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Coffee growing belt is distributed between 25 degrees north and south latitude. Countries located in this growing belt include Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya, as well as the vast Latin America. Arabica varieties are high-altitude species and the mainstream coffee variety, while Latin America has many highlands between 600 to 1,500 meters, coupled with sufficient sunlight, making it suitable for Arabica cultivation. A coffee plant can be harvested in four years and then enters its peak production period, capable of continuous production for decades, making it an economic crop with high return on investment. However, coffee is a crop that requires a lot of labor. During the colonial period, coffee plantation owners were local oligarchs and large landowners, with labor sources being indigenous people or black slaves. By the end of the 19th century, in addition to traditional large coffee plantations, family-style small coffee farmers began to emerge, and well-funded multinational companies also competed for a share of the coffee market. Behind Latin America's coffee economy lies a history of cheap labor filled with exploitation, injustice, and monopoly.

Today, Latin America is one of the world's important coffee-producing regions, and coffee has become a specialty of Latin America. According to statistics, among the arable land in Latin America today, coffee plantations account for at least 45%. Due to geographical advantages, Latin American coffee beans are mainly sold to the United States, followed by exports to Europe and Asia. Generally speaking, coffee-producing regions are mostly in developing countries, while coffee-consuming countries are the so-called First World. Although Latin America is a coffee-producing region, Latin Americans are also coffee lovers. Besides common Americano, mocha, latte, cappuccino, and espresso, various regions have their own drinking methods and terminology, thereby developing unique coffee cultures.

Brazil's coffee production ranks first in the world, and its coffee consumption is quite impressive, ranking among the top ten in the world. Brazilians regard coffee as a panacea for promoting social interaction, often unknowingly drinking cup after cup of espresso at various gatherings. Mexicans particularly enjoy cappuccinos; however, the milk ratio is as high as 80%, and it's served in Irish glass cups, which is no longer the original Italian approach. Mexico also popularizes a folk-style "clay pot coffee" (café de olla), which is prepared as follows: put water in a clay pot and heat it, add cinnamon and sugar bricks after the water boils and cook for twenty minutes, you can also add fennel according to personal preference, then pour in freshly ground coffee powder, immediately turn off the heat when it boils, let it steep for five minutes to absorb the flavor, and finally filter the residue and serve in clay cups.

Colombian coffee is highly praised and has gained international recognition through the brand "Juan Valdez." "Juan Valdez" is a character created by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, depicting a farmer with a mustache leading a small donkey, appearing very friendly. Colombians most commonly drink "cortado" coffee, with a ratio of half coffee and half milk. Additionally, Colombia's "café chaqueta" is similar to Mexico's "café de olla," putting sugar bricks in boiling water and then adding coffee powder, as if dressing the coffee in a sweet coat.

Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee is one of the common options in cafés worldwide. Other places such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, and Peru, while producing high-quality coffee, also add various drinking methods to coffee culture.

Guatemala only began producing coffee in the mid-19th century. Due to suitable climate and geology, it has been able to produce high-quality coffee.

Café culture has been popular in Latin America for over a hundred years. Like in Europe, Latin American cafés are also venues where writers and scholars discuss literature and politics, and places where revolutionary ideas and concepts of freedom are nurtured. To this day, there are still many cafés with over a hundred years of history, such as Café Tortoni in Buenos Aires, Café Brasilero in Montevideo, Confeitaria Colombo in Rio de Janeiro, and Café de Tacuba in Mexico City.

If African coffee has good berry flavors and Asian coffee has obvious herbal plant flavors, then Latin American coffee belongs to the more balanced and diverse category.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing parameters:

V60/88-90℃/1:15/two minutes

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