Dark, medium or light roast, robust or mildly flavorful, full octane or decaf... how do you like your coffee? Do you prefer a consistent flavor to greet you every morning, or do you enjoy exploring new flavors from around the world? What’s all the buzz about Organic, Fair Trade, and Single Source coffees? Whether you are new to coffee drinking or dream of becoming a coffee connoisseur, our coffee bean guide is meant to help you make thoughtful decisions about your next coffee purchase for home brewing, or to try at your favorite café.
Coffee Origins & Flavor Profiles
Coffee beans are grown in more than 50 countries around the world, in what is often referred to as The Coffee Belt. Everything from the variety of the plant, the chemistry of the soil, the weather, the amount of rainfall, sunshine, and the altitude at which the coffee trees grow will affect the taste of the final product. Though even beans grown on the same farm will taste slightly differently from one harvest to the next, regions around the globe do allow some room for generalizations. Here’s a broad overview of the flavor profiles of the world’s primary coffee-growing regions:
- Mexico. With its enticing aroma and depth of flavor, Mexican coffee is ideal for dark roasts and is often used to add an oomph of flavor and complexity to milder beans in blended coffees. In Mexico, an altura coffee means that it was grown at high altitudes.
- United States. Though coffee is grown throughout the Hawaiian islands, Kona coffee, from the island of Hawaii is best known, thanks to its enticing aroma and deliciously rich, medium-bodied flavor.
-
South America. Two of the world’s top coffee growers, Brazil and Columbia produce coffees that tend toward deep, rich and chocolatey flavors. They are consistently good, mild coffees, with well-balanced acidity.
Central America. Costa Rica produces only Arabica coffees that are often described as having perfect balance, thanks to their medium body and sharp acidity. Beans grown in Guatemala's microclimates at altitudes above 4500 feet produce distinctive medium-to-full-bodied coffees, often described as spicy or chocolatey. Nicaragua produces a medium-bodied coffee with bright citrus acidity and semi-sweet, chocolatey undertones.
East Africa. Known for their balance of body and acidity, Ethiopian coffees have bright, sweet and sometimes floral or winy flavors. Kenyan coffees offer a sharp, fruity acidity, combined with full body and rich fragrance.
West Africa. The Ivory Coast is one of the world's largest producers of Robusta coffee, which is quite aromatic, but with a surprisingly light body and lower acidity.
Asia. The Indonesian islands, including Sumatra and Java, produce coffees best known for their rich, full body and mild acidity. Coffee that is slowly aged in the warm, damp tropical environment results in deeper flavors and even less acidity, and commands a higher price. A rising star in coffee growth, Vietnam primarily produces a well-balanced Robusta coffee featuring light acidity, and is frequently used in coffee blends.
Arab Peninsula. Coffee was first cultivated commercially in Yemen during ancient times, and today the old methods are still practiced. The scarcity of water produces smaller, irregularly-shaped beans, with a deep, rich and distinctive flavor.
Coffee Varieties
There are four main types of coffee beans: Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa. Arabica and Robusta beans are typically used in over 90% of all coffees.
Arabica beans are the most popular variety worldwide. Though native to Ethiopia, they’re now grown in countries with tropical climates and high altitudes around the globe, with Brazil being the largest producer. Arabica beans tend to produce coffees that are light and sweet with a bright body and low, yet satisfying, acidity level.
Hearty and hardy, Robusta bean trees are immune to most diseases and today produce about 40% of coffee worldwide. It contains high levels of caffeine, almost double the amount in Arabica beans. Robusta is widely used in espresso blends because it produces a nice creamy layer on top an espresso shot.
The process of harvesting and processing the irregular-shaped Liberica coffee bean is extremely difficult, making it a rare offering in the coffee world. Originating in Liberia, Africa, it comprises less than 2% of the world's coffee. Fruity and floral, it has a significantly lower level of caffeine compared to Arabica and Robusta coffee beans.
Once classified as a variety of Liberica, Excelsa has a full-bodied and strong flavor profile, often tart, fruity, and with a lower caffeine level. Because of its intense flavor and limited supply, Excelsa is more popular as a blending variety to add complexity and depth to house blends.
Coffee Roasting 101
Unroasted coffee beans are referred to as green coffee, because raw beans are bright green. Roasting makes the water inside the beans begin to boil, then turns the water into steam; the resulting pressure softens the hard bean casing. Once peak pressure is reached, the walls explode and the sugars and acids inside the beans undergo chemical reactions, transforming the flavor.
There are four major categories of coffee roast: light, medium, medium-dark, and dark, but it’s important to understand that within each of these categories are variations, some quite subtle but with marked flavor consequences, which elevate the skill of coffee roasting into an art. Every roaster brings to the process their own interpretation of a coffee bean variety and the season’s harvest, just as a vintner may view a grape variety. The roasting process will strongly influence the coffee flavor. In general, light roast, medium roast, and dark roast coffee beans have varying levels of acidity, with dark roast having the lowest acid level, and light roast the highest acid level.
Fair Trade Organic Coffees
Over 12 billion pounds of coffee are produced annually, making it one of the most widely traded commodities in the world. As a result, to achieve maximum production (and profit) farming methods have been developed that often harm human and environmental health. In fact, conventional coffee is one of the most heavily chemical-treated crops in the world.
Here are a few of the numerous reason why we carry only certified organic and Fair Trade coffees, like Equal Exchange and Wicked Joe’s, and why we encourage you to choose organic coffees over conventional coffees:
- Fair Trade organic coffee is farmer friendly. Fair Trade growers comply with strict fair trade standards, which guarantee a higher pay rate to employees, as well as cooperative profit sharing that benefits individuals and communities.
- The supply chain of certified Fair Trade organic coffees has been audited to meet certain sustainability and labor standards.
- Fair Trade organic coffee does not use synthetic chemicals and fertilizers, so it is a cleaner product for you and your loved ones, as well as the farmers and their loved ones who are exposed to the crops on a daily basis.
- The air, land and water are not damaged during organic coffee production.
- Organic coffee farms combat climate change by emitting less carbon than conventional coffee farms.
- Because coffee plants thrive in the shade, organic coffee trees benefit their ecosystems through carbon sequestration. They support the conservation of wildlife, birds, vegetation and the prevention of soil erosion and diseases.
- Conventional coffee is often grown at the expense of forests, where growers choose to clear the land to grow sun-loving coffee varieties with little regard to natural environments or fair and safe labor standards.
- Organic coffee beans are higher in antioxidants.
The next time you reach for that cup of joe, we hope you choose a certified organic and Fair Trade coffee. Every time you buy it, you become part of a global movement devoted to raising the standard of living for farmworkers, the environment, your health and the health of all involved in the coffee production processes.
Single Origin Coffees
It sounds self-explanatory: a single origin coffee is sourced from one place; it comes from a single producer, crop, or region in one country. Yet, like so many things on our grocery shelves, you have to read the fine print. A coffee labeled “Colombian” does not indicate that all the beans in that bag were grown and roasted in Colombia. It most likely is a coffee blend; roasters can mix beans from many places into each batch, possibly even from several countries around the world. Unless diligently tracked and monitored, sourcing from a variety of places can allow for chemical cross-contamination and misrepresentations of products.
With a single origin coffee, such as Twin Engine and Doma coffees, you know exactly where your coffee is coming from. Because the weather has a huge impact on flavor, single source coffees will never taste exactly the same; rather, you are experiencing the unique flavor of a specific place at a very specific time, and that is a joy to savor!
There are additional reasons to seek single origins. Single origin coffees are most often grown organically in smaller batches and harvested once a year, promoting sustainable farming methods. These farming practices maintain biodiversity and preserve bee populations in the area. Your purchase of single origin coffees supports these small farms, a respect for the environment, and businesses that emphasize quality over quantity.
A Bit About Caffeine Content
Caffeine content is affected by the type of coffee bean, roasting style, how the coffee is prepared, as well as the serving size. In general, the average caffeine content of an 8-ounce brewed cup of coffee is 95 mg. Surprisingly, an average espresso contains from 60-90 mg of caffeine. A single espresso or espresso-based drink contains 63 mg of caffeine, while the average amount in decaffeinated coffee is about 3 mg.
The American Heart Association recommends healthy adults limit their daily caffeine consumption to 400 mg. That offers you plenty of opportunities to explore and delight in the many varieties of organic, Free Trade, and single-source coffees we offer from around the world!
