Where in the World is Your Coffee Grown?

When we sip our morning coffees it’s hard to imagine how much effort has gone into growing, producing and transporting the ingredients that go into them.

Coffee is grown in over 70 different countries around the world and is produced most intensively around the equator, where the conditions for growing coffee are most optimum. Nowadays when you walk into your local supermarket or any high street café you’re likely to see a large variety of coffees from Costa Rican to Peruvian and even Parisian, but what’s the difference between the coffees produced in these different countries?

Listed below are some of the most popular and interesting coffee producing areas from around the world and a description of the characteristics of the coffee that they produce.

African Coffee

There are three main coffee producing countries in the African continent; Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Ethiopia produces some of the world’s most unusual coffees and is believed to be where the Arabica coffee tree originated. African coffees are renowned for their rich and full-bodied flavour, which is due to the mildly acidic soils that the trees grow in.

Caribbean and Mexican Coffee

Mexican coffee is one of the most popular coffees in North America as it is renowned for its soft and mellow taste. Costa Rican and Jamaican coffees are known for their variety of coffees produced, all of which are very high quality and increasing in popularity. It is recommended that Costa Rican coffee should be prepared using a filter or cafétiere coffee maker to fully extract the rich flavours.

South American Coffee

Some of the world’s finest coffees are produced in the Andes mountain regions of South America. Brazil is the largest supplier of coffee and the second largest coffee consuming country in the world. The coffee trade in Brazil employs over five million people and supplies 30% of the worlds coffee supply. Columbia is the second largest producing 10% of the world’s coffee. Unfortunately Peru’s share of the coffee trade has dropped considerably due to political and economic issues, which has increased the value of quality Peruvian coffee around the world.

Indonesian Coffee

Vietnam is one of the largest coffee producing country in world, providing 7.5% of the world’s coffee. Vietnam predominantly produces Robusta coffee beans, which are used in some of the worlds most expensive coffees including ’caphe cut chon’, which is made from coffee that has ‘passed through’ the civet cat, which gives the coffee bean an enhanced taste that is desirable by many coffee connoisseurs around the world.

Indian Coffee

Despite India’s association with tea, it is in fact one of the first countries in the world to grow coffee. Indian coffee is not as high quality as Caribbean, African or Indonesian coffee as most of the coffee is grown in the southern states of Karanataka and Tamil Nadu, where the monsoon weather varies the soil acidity seasonally. Monsooned coffee is known for its heavy bodied taste that is often used to add depth to an espresso blend.

Image Credits: Szymon Kochański and INeedCoffee.

Brief encounters – Miele CVA 2660 coffee machine review

Coffee-lover roofus6000 has something of nuisance neighbour. Not the kind to keep him awake at all hours with loud music, but so keen is he on roofus6000′s espresso that he’s forever dropping round for a cup.

Luckily for our reviewer he says the Miele CVA 2660 has served him without a problem for the last two years, unlike his previous machines which “all broke down at least once”. He describes it as “an excellent machine. It is easy to use and elegant to look at”, his only disappointment being the need to pre-heat cups as “the coffee comes out at a pleasant drinking temperature. If you love your coffee scalding hot this machine is not for you”.

For the full run-down on his review jump over to Ciao! to read it in full.

Hands on with the Miele CVA3650 ST coffee machine

Many’s the time I’ve awoken, rubbed the sleep from my eyes and hankered for a coffee. Not just any coffee mind…the kind of shop-quality coffee that only a 20 minute stroll down the road, lengthy queue, and best part of a fiver, will get you.

Well, good news for us comes in the unlikely form of Steve from Machines That Go Bing, a pioneer in technologies of all kinds, and recent recipient of the Miele CVA 3650 ST coffee machine on a three week trial. He’s posted a very extensive hands-on guide of exactly how he found the coffee machine was to use.

A self confessed “caffeine-pumped twitching freak”, Steve made no secret of the fact that his “taste-buds [were] throbbing”, and wasted no time in getting started, which by all accounts was refreshingly simple “From opening the box to producing my first ‘real’ cup of coffee was about twenty minutes”.

Of course, there was the odd usability problem – “If you’re not used to this kind of coffee machine the extra work over more mundane forms of coffee-making takes some getting used to”, but more importantly for all the coffee-heads… How did it taste? Well, according to Steve “the result is worth the effort, and the quality of the beverages you’ll enjoy from the 3650 cannot be denied.”

You can read the full review here, and why not enjoy a tasty brew while you do.

Coffee Makers: It’s a matter of taste

It’s not just matters of education that are discussed over at the TES website. This online ‘staffroom’ for teachers – as with any other community – debate a wide range of subjects and several members have recently turned their attention to that staple of any staffroom – the coffee machine.

Opinions on the subject of which machines are best are as varied as the individual tastes: filter, espresso, latte and even frothy chocolate are all mentioned as favourites among the staff. Such is the knowledge imparted on the subject that dinx67 asks member LadsNR: “Are you the TES equivalent of Which? magazine?” and “Do you have any recommendations for a vacuum cleaner?” to which she replies “Our last 2 vacuums have been Miele I love them”. The debate quickly returns to the subject of coffee however and whether the Italian method of a slow boiling pot of the stuff is really the last word in taste.

To catch up on the coffee debate and perhaps pick up a vacuum cleaner recommendation into the bargain, jump over to the forum and have your say.

Best integrated coffee machine?

AskAboutMoney member BTBL has asked his fellow forum members for recommendations for an integrated coffee machine to finish his kitchen and is considering a Neff or Kuppersbusch appliance.

Staples highly recommends the Miele machine they bought two years ago as it produces beautiful coffee, is very easy to use, requires little maintenance and enables you to adjust coffee strength and bean coarseness to suit your taste.

Have do you like your freshly-ground coffee? Are you an espresso or cappuccino drinker? What coffee machine produces the best results for you? Have your say in the forum.