Coffee Bean Producers Around The World

There is a wide variety of coffee beans available nowadays and they all have their own personality which depends on where and how they were grown. Originating from Ethiopia, where the main coffee production still comes from wild coffee tree forests, coffee consumption has spread throughout the world. Since it requires ample sunshine and rain, the plants from which beans are produced can grow only in tropical or sub-tropical regions.

From a narrow band centered on the equator of around 23 degrees North to 25 degrees South comes all of the world’s source of the liquid that a Turkish proverb calls ‘black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love’. As a commodity, coffee is second only to oil in dollar volume. Coffee beans are grown worldwide in over 70 countries.

Brazil is by far the largest coffee bean producer in the world with an average output of 28% of the total. Even world-renowned Colombia is a distant second at only 16%, Indonesia has less than half of that – 7%, and Mexico, with the 4% is on the fourth place.

The best beans are produced by coffee trees that grow in high altitudes but they have also adapted to a variety of other areas.

In Brazil, the plantations cover very large areas and employ hundreds of workers to tend the plants. In Colombia the rugged mountains and poor economic conditions mean that transportation to processing centers is still largely carried out by mule or Jeep.

While Colombia has the tree-lined mountains, Hawaiian producers plant on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano. The black volcanic ash is rocky, but ideal for the plants where the intense afternoon sun is softened by tropical clouds. Frequent island showers provide the ample rain needed.

Indonesia is combined of 17,508 islands of which about 6,000 are inhabited and is the world’s largest archipelagic state. Coffee has been grown ever since the Dutch colonists brought it there in the 17th century. Even though other countries may have greater technology, no one exceeds the helpful warm, damp micro-climates found here. Hundreds of one to two acre farms on the largest islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi combine to secure the country’s third place position.

As opposed to Brazil, plantations in Mexico are primarily small farms but there are more than 100,000 of them, so in the total they still make the country a serious factor on the world market. Majority of the plantations are located in the south, in Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas with the special Altura beans indicating their origin in the high altitudes.

In recent years Vietnam has rapidly been challenging Indonesia’s position as the Tonkin area recovers from decades of stagnation. In the mid-19th century by French missionaries planted there the arabica trees, but today the small plantations produce robusta, which is one of the two main types of plant.

Even though Africa, Kenya and the Ivory Coast, are smaller producers they are famous for the dark, large beans grown there. In the foothills of Mount Kenya grow some of the largest in the world which go to produce a well-known fruity coffee. The Ivory Coast holds its position as one of the world’s largest producers of robusta, often used in espresso blends.

Whether it’s the Brazilian Liberdade, the Costa Rican La Fuente, the Indian Monsoon Malabar or the Tanzanian Peaberry, there is a coffee for every taste and everywhere. With such a wide choice, there no reason to be satisfied with just one option from a local store. Try something different today, you just might be pleasantly surprised.