If coffee growing was an Olympic event, it'd be a marathon not a sprint. And not just because Africa totally dominates. Being a coffee superpower requires years of economic, infrastructural, and government investment. Plus a bean-friendly terrior, farmers dedicated to quality control, and a trust in industry buyers to bring the beans to the masses.
So, which countries shell out the best beans? To get an idea, we asked a group of 11 roasters and writers to weigh in. Obviously, with all of the variables involved, naming favorite countries is not an easy task. Almost all of our contributors expressed hesitation about throwing their hat into the ring (too much Deadly Grounds, perhaps), and one roaster even pulled their choices for fear of upsetting their farmers.
Naturally, personal bias in taste, education, and life experience influence one's picks, but by polling a diverse cross-section of the coffee world, we feel like this is an honest pulse of the industry, as taken from some of its finest minds. Dare we say 'definitive'? To the dismay of the comments section, we dare. Here are the results, with the reasoning below.
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8 (tie). United States (Hawaii) - 1 point
Bags* produced in 2013: 52,919**
"I love the fact that Hawaii is the only place in the United States to produce coffee. And not only produce coffee, but a coffee that is truly exceptional. Hawaii offers consumers an easy way to get a first-hand glimpse of coffee production without having to travel to the ends of the Earth." - Connie Blumhardt, publisher of Roast Magazine
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8 (tie). Panama - 1 point
Bags produced in 2013: 100,000
"We just can't get enough of the Gesha cultivar, for which Panama is famous. Though Gesha, like all coffee, originated in Ethiopia, it grows spectacularly well in Panama. Just look how many of the competitors in the World Barista Championship and the World Brewers Cup (held in June in Rimini, Italy) succeeded with Panama. Though historically coffee was undervalued in Panama, the success some small coffee estates have had with the Gesha specifically in the Best of Panama competition (annual) has made Panamanian coffee extremely sought after for its tea-like quality and exceptional floral cup." - Sarah Allen, editor of Barista Magazine
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8 (tie). Rwanda - 1 point
Bags produced in 2013: 246,000
"This one is an extremely personal pick. We’ve never before witnessed such a remarkable rise of coffee quality in such a short time. They went from producing zero specialty coffee to being the first African nation to host a Cup of Excellence competition in the space of eight years. The transformation happening there is dynamic and unprecedented, and the country is changing before our eyes. I spent a lot of time there as a volunteer in the early part of the last decade and helped train the first generation of coffee tasters, many of whom have gone on to become world-class professionals and a critical part of the small nation’s coffee industry. They’ve also got my all-time favorite hot sauce, a ‘pili-pili’ made from a particular kind of Scotch-bonnet pepper. Rwanda is one of the last places on Earth you can find mountain gorillas, and there are few things more astonishing than hanging out in the forest for an hour with a family of wild gorillas." - Geoff Watts, VP of Coffee at Intelligentsia
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7. Indonesia - 2 points
Bags produced in 2013: 11.7 million
"While the Indonesian government has held back the overall quality of this producing country, there is a renegade band of quality-focused producers pushing the limits of processing and cultivar-specific coffee growing on the islands of Java and Bali. With a community of farmers who work for themselves, and incentives in place for quality production, Klasik Beans and the Java Sunda Cooperative are pushing boundaries socially and agriculturally." - David Buehrer, Greenway Coffee Company
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5 (tie). Honduras - 3 points
Bags produced in 2013: 4.2 million
"A standout among Centrals. Our coffees from Santa Bárbara have always reminded me more of African coffee than Central American coffee. The two producers we have been working with over the last four years live on opposite sides of a mountain, and though they also grow the same varieties (Catuaí and Pacas), they taste rather different. César Fernandez's coffee from El Cielito has a very special golden raisin quality that is rounded out with apricot and red raspberry. Mariano Mejía's coffee from San Luis Plane tastes like green tea, red currant, and hazelnut." - Cheryl Kingan, coffee buyer for Cafe Grumpy
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5 (tie). Costa Rica - 3 points
Bags produced in 2013: 1.4 million
"I love Costa Rica for all the country has to offer -- amazing people, amazingly beautiful country, and, of course, amazing coffee!" - Connie Blumhardt, publisher of Roast Magazine
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4. Guatemala - 7 points
Bags produced in 2013: 3.1 million
"While there's a lot of great coffee in Central America, Guatemala has really stood out this past year or so with fantastically sweet, balanced, and supple coffees full of flavor. I have been increasingly surprised with different offerings from the small country; it's like the origin that keeps giving." - Bill Walsh, writer at Pure Coffee Blog
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