Where Do the Best Coffee Beans Come From? Top 10 Best Coffee Bean Brands Recommended

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Introduction

Coffee can actually be grown in very limited regions. Coffee trees are generally planted between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, which we call the "Coffee Belt." Within the Coffee Belt, there are three major regions: Africa, America, and Asia. In the past, we typically described African coffee as acidic, American coffee as having dark cocoa notes while being very balanced, and Asian coffee as mostly herbaceous and very rich.

From continents to coffee-producing countries, each coffee-producing country is further subdivided into different coffee regions. Each region has a different climate, combined with the complex influences of varieties and processing methods, thus presenting today's flourishing situation of diverse styles.

Different coffee-producing countries have different flavors. FrontStreet Coffee has selected ten representative coffee-producing countries to see how the coffee flavors from these countries differ.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia can be said to be one of the most popular coffee-producing countries. As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia has an enormous number of coffee varieties and can be called a treasure trove of coffee varieties. However, variety identification is time-consuming and laborious, and most are grown by small farmers. After harvesting, they are mixed and processed, making it difficult to细分 varieties, so they are generally collectively called "Heirloom varieties" for Ethiopian exported coffee beans.

The most representative Ethiopian coffee beans are undoubtedly the washed coffee beans produced in Yirgacheffe. Ethiopia mainly uses natural processing, but common natural processing methods are often crude, mostly carrying defective flavors. Therefore, last century, the Yirgacheffe region introduced washed processing from America, which made the coffee produced in the Yirgacheffe region famous.

In FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection, the Yirgacheffe Koke Cooperative is most worth recommending. The Koke Cooperative was originally subordinate to the renowned Worka Cooperative and later became independent from it. The washed coffee produced by the Koke Cooperative carries the classic citrus acidity of Yirgacheffe, delicate white floral notes, yellow fruits, and tea-like aftertaste.

Kenya

Kenya is another most representative coffee-producing country in Africa, with highly recognizable berry tones reminiscent of grapefruit, blackberries, plums, and other fruits. The extremely high acidity makes Kenyan coffee almost one of the most popular iced coffees in summer. Kenya's flavor foundation mostly comes from its SL28 & SL34 varieties and mature washed processing techniques.

Panama

Panama can be said to be the most popular specialty coffee-producing country today, with numerous estates including the famous Hacienda La Esmeralda, Deborah Estate, Ninety Plus Estate, etc. The coffee varieties grown in Panama include Geisha, Caturra, Catuai, etc., but the variety most representative of Panama is mainly Geisha. Among the many estates, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the Geisha coffee produced by Hacienda La Esmeralda is most representative.

At the beginning of this century, Hacienda La Esmeralda realized the potential of the Geisha variety through extensive cupping. At that time, the Geisha variety had low yield and was difficult to harvest, basically only used as windbreak trees for other coffee varieties. Subsequently, Hacienda La Esmeralda separated and selected the Geisha variety, and won the Best of Panama BOP green bean competition in 2004 with the Geisha variety. Since then, Geisha coffee has become popular worldwide.

Today, Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha is divided into three grades: Red Label, Green Label, and Blue Label. The Red and Green Labels are from slightly higher altitudes, with the Red Label batches being from single plots. Although the Blue Label Geisha coffee is grown at slightly lower altitudes, its cost performance is quite high. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas often recommend Hacienda La Esmeralda's Blue Label Geisha to customers who want to try Geisha. For the 2020 production season, the Blue Label has both washed and natural processing methods available. The washed is clean, while the natural tends toward fruity flavors.

Colombia

Colombia is perhaps the most characteristic American coffee-producing country. Specialty-grade Colombian coffee (washed processing) mostly carries citrus notes, nuts, and dark cocoa, with an overall smooth and rich profile. Dark cocoa is one of its major characteristics, while also having the refined acidity granted by high altitude, making it a rare high-quality coffee-producing country.

Guatemala

Guatemala is a very typical volcanic country. Its famous Antigua region is surrounded by three volcanoes, and the volcanic ash soil provides sufficient nutrients for coffee tree growth. Including Antigua, Guatemala has multiple coffee regions. Different regions have different growing environments and conditions, forming different regional flavors. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the most representative region of Guatemala might be the Antigua region.

FrontStreet Coffee selected a Flor de Café coffee bean among many coffee beans in the Antigua region. Flor de Café is a coffee bean under La Minita company. La Minita is famous for excellent cultivation, processing techniques, and extremely strict quality control. They commissioned Antigua's largest washed processing plant, Las Pastores, to process the green beans according to these standards and named the coffee beans Flor de Café. In addition to preserving the original regional flavors, the dry aroma carries rich floral and tea notes. After tasting, lime acidity and berry flavors emerge, then transform into a honey aftertaste. Excellent cleanliness and rich layered complexity are the characteristics of this Flor de Café.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica has been growing coffee for over two hundred years, and its coffee industry is very mature. It is also one of the few countries worldwide that prohibit the cultivation of Robusta coffee beans (even Catimor varieties are not allowed), showing great emphasis on coffee quality. Costa Rican coffee's characteristics come from its unique honey processing method—the practice of retaining some mucilage during drying, giving Costa Rican coffee both the cleanliness of washed coffee and a slight sweetness of natural coffee. Nuts are the main tone, mixed with refreshing acidity, being substantial while carrying sugar-like sweetness.

Brazil

As the country producing the most Arabica coffee beans worldwide, Brazil's position in the coffee world cannot be ignored. Brazil is located in the Latin American region of the Western Hemisphere, and its superior tropical natural conditions are very suitable for the growth of tropical economic crops like coffee.

Most Brazilian coffee has lower acidity, combined with coffee's sweet-bitter taste, making it extremely smooth in the mouth, while also carrying a faint grassy aroma. It's lightly fragrant with a slight bitterness, sweet and smooth, with a refreshing aftertaste. FrontStreet Coffee selected a Queen's Estate Bourbon coffee as Brazil's representative. This coffee flavor carries obvious nuts and chocolate, medium caramel sweetness, smooth mouthfeel, and overall balance.

Jamaica

Besides Brazil, Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee is also very balanced coffee. The Blue Mountains are located in the eastern part of Jamaica Island. Because the mountain is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, on clear days when the sun shines directly on the azure sea surface, the peaks reflect the brilliant blue light of the seawater, hence the name.

For many years, Blue Mountain coffee has been subject to strict export controls, always producing only washed Typica to countries like Japan. However, until last year, FrontStreet Coffee also began to taste natural Typica beyond washed processing, and even Geisha coffee produced in Blue Mountains. However, FrontStreet Coffee always believes that Blue Mountain coffee's flavor is still represented by washed Typica. Washed Blue Mountain coffee carries citrus acidity, but overall balance is strong, with nuts and dark cocoa in the middle, persistent aftertaste, and mellow mouthfeel.

Honduras

Honduras is a very popular coffee-producing country in recent years, the most impressive being its wine barrel fermentation processing method.

As an American country, Honduras's coffee characteristics themselves mostly carry classic American coffee flavors, with citrus mixed with cocoa as the base tone, while overall being balanced and rich. It has similarities with Colombia's specialty-grade washed coffee beans, but coffee production and quality have been difficult to surpass Colombia. The recent rise of Honduras is mainly due to its unique wine barrel processing method.

After coffee cherries are harvested, they are peeled and pulped, then placed in oak wine barrels for low-temperature fermentation. The coffee beans thus acquire unusual wine notes. One of FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras coffee beans uses sherry wine barrels for low-temperature fermentation, thus acquiring vanilla, cream, and caramel-like aromas.

Indonesia

When talking about Asian coffee, Indonesia must be mentioned, among which Sumatra's Mandheling coffee can be said to be its representative. The flavor of Indonesian Mandheling coffee is attributed to its world-rare wet hulling method. The Indonesia region is humid and rainy, making long-term natural drying impossible. Meanwhile, the small-farmer cultivation model has led to the development of wet hulling characterized by multiple drying sessions and hulling parchment during drying.

Indonesian coffee thus inadvertently produced rich, thick, herbal spice flavors. In FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection, the most recommended is Golden Mandheling. Because the wet hulling method's step of hulling parchment during drying causes coffee beans to easily crack, commonly known as "goat hoof beans," Golden Mandheling's multiple manual selections have reduced many defective beans and poorly appearing beans. Therefore, Golden Mandheling coffee, besides the classic herbal spice flavors, is also cleaner and very smooth in mouthfeel.

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