How to Read a Coffee - Part 2: Geography and Climate, Why Origin Matters
By Dale Harris & Alex Scott
Generally, we find the combination of origin, process and variety give a much clearer picture of whether we might enjoy a coffee, so let’s hit the ones we think really matter.
Origin, Region, Altitude
One of the amazing things about the complexity of coffee flavour is where the plant has been grown, and how the way it has been cared for through the season greatly impacts its flavour. There are common flavour experiences tied to general latitudes, country, region and specific farms with unique geography. We can broadly say that coffees grown further from the equator, coffees from Brazil, from Asia tend to have deeper more chocolate like flavours, heavier textures and lower acidity, whereas coffees from Central America, and particularly Africa are more likely to have clearer fruit notes, higher acidity and lighter body.
These regional flavour profiles are made more complicated by two main factors.
Firstly, those profiles are shaped by the varieties of coffee plant typically grown in those regions, shaped by history, local plant breeding programmes, and agronomic conditions. This is reinforced by typical processing style of the region that have become common due to combinations of traditional water access, ease of moving coffee from farm to mill, and where the labour to support that work has been located.
Secondly, altitude is a key factor in both the broad-brush profile, and the flavour diversity within a region’s coffees. Higher altitude is not the same as higher quality, and needs to be understood in context, as it’s really a proxy for temperature and climactic conditions at a given latitude. The closer you get to the equator, the higher up a farm needs to be to have the basic conditions required to grow coffee (stable, cooler temperatures, never dropping close to 5°, or higher than 25°). Those same climactic conditions occur at different altitudes in different countries - a coffee grown at 1200masl in Guatemala having similar conditions to 800masl in Brazil or 2000masl in Ethiopia. Within a country higher altitude often equates to cooler temps, slower maturation, lower yields, and higher flavour quality, but all farming is terraforming, and climactic conditions and temperature can be shaped by shade trees, irrigation, and other factors. The higher the altitude the less land there is, impacting rarity and price.
When we buy coffee, we aim to choose lots that either demonstrate those regional flavour profiles in the best way, or contrast with them reflecting the diversity of coffee possible with producer skill and intent.
Producer Name
When we see a coffee sold as a “single origin” that should mean we can trace it back to the mill or farm it came from. We want to bridge the gap between our customers and the people doing brilliant work at origin, so when we can, we will include the name of the farmer on our bags.
There are many ways to own and operate a coffee farm though. Sometimes that name will be an organisation/company, other times a co-operative. One you will see often is something like “various smallholders”, which comes about when a number of farmers from the same region contribute a small amount of beans to a larger lot. This can allow producers with small amounts of land to sell coffee in the global market, when generally green (unroasted beans) are shipped in 60-70kg sacks. It takes around 400kg of cherry to produce this much, and around 1/10th of a hectare
Around the world of specialty coffee, there are a handful of rock-star producers with a reputation that can bolster the value of their coffees. We have long term relationships with a few of these producers, and you’ll generally see us offering multiple smaller lots from them as their experimental approach often allows us to separate different varieties or processes to create super valuable side by side tastings.
Get Exploring
To help demonstrate these principles, we've put together a few coffees that we think really show off regional character. Click the coffees below, to learn more, or ask about them in our tasting bar on your next visit!
