the bird on fire

By Junior Indy Behr, Coffee Connoisseur 

Indy suggested we blog about coffee, so it’s only fitting he travels the world offering up and explaining the many varieties of coffee we can ingest.

There are many different countries that produce coffee across the globe. I wrote an article delving into the culture and origin characteristics of Ethiopian coffee, but there are countries across Africa, South America, and Asia that produce significant amounts of coffee as well, all with their own growing processes and naturally occurring flavors. I will explore a few coffee producing countries from all of these regions.

Kenyan Coffee

Kenya is an African nation. Their coffee characteristics are somewhat similar to Ethiopian characteristics. The coffee has bright, fruity flavors. There is much more natural acidity present, and when the coffee is left to dry naturally before roasting, this acidity is even more prominent, and the flavors are reminiscent to tropical fruit, like mangos or pineapples. I have seen people describe these Kenyan dry-process coffees as Tropical-Skittles-flavored coffee. The coffee has a heavy body, and its mouthfeel is creamier than coffees grown in South America.

Ugandan Coffee

Uganda is another major coffee-producing nation in Africa. Ugandan coffee is similar to Kenyan coffee, but there is not as much natural sugar. This means there is not quite as much sweetness. Their coffee production used to be much less than its neighboring countries, but over the last few years, coffee has become their top earning export (tradingeconomics.com). Initially, they were producing low-quality, high caffeine, cheap robusta coffee, but they have now entered the arabica game, leading to more attention from the specialty coffee industry.

Indonesian Coffee

The biggest coffee-producing country in Asia by far is Indonesia. If you’ve ever had an espresso beverage from Starbucks (a latte, cappuccino, flat white, caramel macchiato, etc.), you’ve had Indonesian coffee. Asian coffees like these are relatively earthy, meaning they kind of taste like what can best be described as dirt or grass. Plenty of people enjoy this as evidenced by Starbucks’ popularity. Even when roasted lightly, it has pretty high natural bitterness. Personally, I am not a fan of these types of coffees that typically come from Asia. I like fruitier and more acidic ones in general. That being said, when your coffee is roasted nearly into ashes like Starbucks, any type of bean will taste like the same thing: carbon.

Panamanian Coffee

Panama is a major coffee producer in South America that produces coffee with intense fruity flavors and sometimes even a peppery spicy note. Panama is the producer of most gesha coffees that are found throughout the world, even though this variety is actually native to Ethiopia. Geshas are one of the most expensive varieties of coffee, but they are generally some of the highest quality coffees you can find. Geshas often have the scent and flavors of honey and jasmine tea.

Brazilian Coffee

Brazil is the biggest coffee producer in the world by far. More than 7.8 billion pounds of green coffee beans were exported by Brazil in 2020 (elevencoffees.com). Because Brazil is one of the largest coffee-producing countries in the area, the characteristics of their coffee significantly vary by region and growing altitude. Generally, their coffees are not especially acidic, though the higher they are grown, the more acidic they are. Their coffee often has really nice chocolatey notes, and they are usually more of sweeter, lighter milk chocolate notes unlike the intense dark chocolate notes found in coffees from places like Indonesia.

Hawaiian Coffee

Of the fifty United States, only Hawaii grows coffee. This is because it is the only true tropical state. Hawaiian coffee is very naturally sweet, with molasses or brown sugar notes. There are also a lot of fruity notes found, especially berry ones. Hawaii also produces the very high quality Kona coffee variety. Kona has very pleasant nutty notes, like toasted almond or hazelnut. This variety is grown on the Big Island of Hawaii on the slopes of volcanoes. These areas are of relatively low altitudes, and this means Kona has very little acidity compared to coffees in places like Africa.

Overall, I think that comparing the origin characteristics of different coffee-producing countries is really fun. Personally, my favorite coffees are acidic coffees from places like Kenya and fruity coffees from places like Brazil. I encourage you to try two single origin coffees from two different continents and try to tell what is different or similar between them. It’s a really fun way to explore coffee from around the world and find your preferences and dislikes.