How Coffee Origin Affects the Taste of Your Coffee

What we love about coffee, is learning what you like and don’t like, and building an affinity to a certain region, or processing of the coffee. Just like wine, once you know what you tend to like, searching for new coffee and trying new single origins becomes a much more serious hobby. Coffee soon becomes a tasting experience with every new bean, and not just a wake-up call in a mug. We’d say you can really taste the difference when we consider the major coffee regions of the world: Africa, America and Asia.

Let’s start with Africa…

African coffee growing countries, such as Kenya and Ethiopia, give rise to more fruity tasting coffees with more acidity. We find Kenyan coffees to have more delicate flavours of deeper blackcurrant and grapes but with their acidity, the sweetness is mild and more covert. On the other hand, Ethiopian coffees are more sweet and juicy with stronger notes of berries. Natural processing of Ethiopian beans enhances this flavour profile, whereas washed Ethiopian beans will give more complex flavours of floral tones like jasmine, lilies and lemongrass.

Now, let’s talk about Asia…

The key growing region for specialty coffee in Asia is Indonesia. Indonesia is best know for growing Sumatran coffee, which is more heavy and has an almost savoury feel to it. Natural processed Sumatran coffee brings sweeter flavours of berry.

Central America and South America have a lot of variety…

Central America holds many key coffee growing countries such as Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala. Central America is known for producing juicy fruity flavours, particularly in Panama. Honduran coffee, along with Costa Rica produces more balanced flavours of cherry and stone fruit. Guatemalan coffee is often used in blends for its cocoa/ dark chocolate tastes.

South America is another key coffee producer with growing regions in Brazil and Colombia. Brazil coffee gives flavours of chocolate and caramel, which is why it’s so often found in blends. Colombian coffee also holds these flavours but its higher acidity level gives a crisper sweetness.