Americans drink a ton of coffee each day, and by a “ton” I mean roughly 400 million cups of coffee in a given day. And while we’re guzzling all that joe and leading busy, highly-caffeinated lives, how often do we stop and think about where our coffee comes from? For our part at Mammoth Espresso, we try to slow things down a bit and highlight the country of origin of each coffee we sell as a way to connect different profiles and flavors with producing regions. But I thought it’d be fun, err interesting, to spend some time exploring where our favorite beverage originates.
Coffee is a hugely traded global commodity, accounting for some $30 billion in exports. And as such, it is incredibly important to the economies of many countries. This includes Arabica coffee, which accounts for 70% of the worlds coffee, and 100% of the top-tier of specialty coffee, as well as Robusta. (Robusta is far cheaper and easier to grow, but results in significantly poorer quality.) Here’s a look at the top five producing countries of Arabica and Robusta coffee.
Top Global Producers of Coffee
1. Brazil (5.7 billion pounds)
2. Vietnam (3.6 billion pounds)
3. Colombia (1.7 billion pounds)
4. Indonesia (1.4 billion pounds)
5. Ethiopia (800 million pounds)
The “Bean Belt”
You can technically grow coffee nearly anywhere. In fact, we have a coffee plant at Mammoth Espresso sitting on our window bar (fun fact!). This plant, however, is never going to mature and produce fruit. To meet the conditions of actual farming and cultivation, coffee thrives in a band around the world known as the “Bean Belt.” This area is situated near the Equatorial zone between latitudes 25 degrees North and 30 degrees South.
Further, Arabica coffee, which again is far superior in cup quality than its cousin, Robusta, needs significant altitudes and rich soils to prosper. This means that simply residing within the Bean Belt isn’t enough to produce coffee. A coffee’s productivity is also highly dependent on other factors, such as the variety of plant that grows well in a particular area, the unique chemistry of the soil, climate, rain and sunshine. Then the particular skill of the harvester and the steps involved in skillfully processing coffee plays a significant role in its viability before it’s ever ready to be sold. And if all of these conditions are not fully met, then we never get that delicious cup of coffee from your local coffee shop.
Popular Regions of Coffee Production
Coffee is currently grown in more than 70 countries around the world, including America. Hawaii and Puerto Rico both produce coffee, albeit in significantly smaller quantities than other producing countries.
Our neighbor to the south, Mexico, has found success in the coastal region of Chiapas. This makes sense given its proximity to nearby Guatemala’s famed Huehuetenango region. Guatemala and all of Central America grows coffee, as do some areas of the Caribbean (Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Jamaica).
In South America, coffee production is led by the behemoths of Brazil and Colombia. But many other producing countries have spectacular success with coffee production, including Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Venezuela, in case you’ve been keeping up with the news, is in turmoil. Its coffee production was once a powerhouse, but now accounts for around 1% of global production, and consists primarily of Robusta coffee.
African coffees are perhaps the most famous among specialty coffee consumers. Ethiopia, which is known as the birthplace of coffee, is a major specialty producer, as is nearby Kenya. Further down you’ll find Arabica coffee regions in Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Other, mostly Robusta, producers include the Ivory Coast, Uganda and Yemen. Like Venezuela, instability in Yemen has brought the coffee industry essentially to a halt.
In Asia we have Myanmar, which prior to 2016 had prohibited coffee exports to the United States, but is producing Arabica coffee with great results. Indonesia is also a major producer of both Arabica and Robusta coffee. Papua New Guinea is a small but promising producer. Other regions that grow exclusively Robusta coffee include the mega-producer Vietnam, along with India and Thailand.
So, the next time you’re at Mammoth Espresso, another coffee shop or simply enjoying a cup at home, consider yourself a global coffee traveler. Explore, take mental notes and consider our place among the worldwide coffee supply chain.