Coffee Hit Parade. What is the best coffee in the world?

The ratings of the best coffee are compiled by companies working in this industry, organizations that determine the quality characteristics of the product, and simply connoisseurs of the drink. There is no single list that everyone or even most people agree on. But many of them repeat certain varieties and countries of origin.

Here’s what kind of coffee most often makes it into the best ratings.

Costa Rica Tarrazu

Costa Rica, a tropical country in Central America, is famous for the rich taste of coffee grown high in the mountains. The canton of Tarrazu is especially famous, where the main income of the population is precisely the sale of coffee fruits grown in the highlands.

Guatemala Antigua

Guatemala, another Central American country, supplies the United States with Arabica. It is the country’s main export. Grown near the city of Antigua and rich in flavor, Guatemalan coffee often wins prizes at specialized exhibitions.

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

This African country is not only the birthplace of Arabica coffee, but also the supplier of several popular varieties. Yirgacheffe is the tallest growing and at the same time the most famous. Sidamo coffee from Ethiopia is also known and highly valued.

Salvador Pacamara. The most expensive Arabica variety from El Salvador, another Central American country. Salvadoran Pacas is also known. However, the majority of production in the country is Bourbon.

Colombia Supremo

This is a coffee of the Caturra subspecies – the largest beans of coffee berries from Colombia, a country of South America. This is not a specific variety, but simply high-quality coffee, which is immediately clear to connoisseurs from the name.

Jamaica Blue Mountain

The Caribbean island nation of Jamaica is famous throughout the world for its coffee grown in the mountains. They are called Blue Mountains and are part of the variety’s name. Jamaican coffee is included in the elite varieties.

Brazil Santos

This variety is well known all over the world. It can be considered a classic in the world of coffee. Brazil has been the world leader in coffee production for more than a century and never fails when it comes to popular and sought-after varieties. South America, by the way, supplies the market with the largest amount of coffee beans, if you compare the continents.

Sumatra Mandheling

This is Arabica from Indonesia, which represents Asia. The rich taste of this coffee is distinguished by spicy-woody notes. Spices are very popular in this part of the world, so in a sense they even penetrate into the coffee beans.

Kenya AA

Another African country, a neighbor of Ethiopia. Kenyan coffee is loved for its pleasant sourness, which organically shades the overall taste balance. Knowing that Africa is the birthplace of coffee, you are not surprised by the reviews about the quality of the local product. As in the case of Columbia, AA in the name indicates the large size and high quality of the beans.

Tanzania Peaberry

Recently, coffee from this African country has increasingly appeared in world rankings. Connoisseurs love the drink made from peaberry beans for its expressive taste and high density. Coffee from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro is known all over the world. And local peaberry is the most desirable of all varieties.

We have listed 10 famous coffee varieties in random order, which are often mentioned by professionals, calling the best of the best. But any such rating is subjective. Even the most sophisticated coffee lovers, who have tried hundreds of varieties from all over the world, say that determining the best coffee is a personal matter. If you want to find the most delicious coffee in your opinion, try as many drinks as possible from different varieties collected on different plantations.

And we will try to figure out what makes good coffee good. To do this, we will look at the types and varieties, and also learn what conditions affect the ripening of coffee berries. After reading our guide, you will understand that Arabica is not a type of coffee, you will understand how exactly the altitude affects the quality of coffee berries, and you will learn what the “body” is in the description of the finished drink in the words of cup testers. We will also tell you about cup testers.

Types, varieties and grades of coffee

Coffee is a genus of woody plants that can be found in the wild on two continents: Africa and Asia. When people began to cultivate coffee, these two continents were joined by South and North America. The wild evergreen coffee tree grows up to 10-15 meters in height, but cultivated trees are often called bushes, since their height does not exceed 2 meters – for the convenience of harvesting the fruits.

All parts of the coffee tree contain caffeine, a natural alkaloid that causes an adrenaline-like effect when it enters the human body. When we consume caffeine, our pulse quickens, blood vessels dilate, the entire nervous system is stimulated, and the body and brain become more efficient. The coffee drink is prepared from the processed fruits of these trees. Many people like to start their day with coffee, as the drink invigorates and quickly gets the brain into working order.

Types of coffee

There are more than 120 species of coffee tree. People cultivate mainly two of them: the same Arabica And robusta, To put it simply, Arabica is the most common coffee tree in the world, from which the fruits are obtained. The usual name for coffee fruits is beans, although technically they are berries.

These two species produce almost all the coffee beans used to make the drink. Some sources say that the ratio between Arabica and Robusta is 80% to 20% or 70% to 30%, but this data is outdated. The International Coffee Organization’s report for the 2021/2022 season says that Arabica accounted for about 56% of the coffee produced that season, while Robusta accounted for the remaining 44%. Moreover, Robusta production has been growing rapidly in recent years. The main reason is climate change, which is causing a reduction in the area under Arabica planting. This species is capricious and more susceptible to disease than the more resilient Robusta.

The leader in Arabica production is Brazil, and in Robusta production is Vietnam. Suffice it to say that Brazil supplies about a third of all coffee entering the world market. Brazil has been the leader in this industry for 150 years. By the way, it is also consumed in the country itself, and more than anywhere else in the world – 97% of Brazilians drink coffee. As for Vietnam, it provides about 40% of all Robusta supplies.

In addition to Arabica and Robusta, people cultivate 8 more types of coffee trees, but only three of them are worth knowing. These are Liberica, excelsa and stenophila. It is rare to find a drink made from them, since the total share of all these species fits into 1.5% of all coffee produced in the world.

We have sorted out the types of coffee. Below in the hierarchy are subspecies or varieties of coffee. Arabica has the most of them. Often these are the so-called cultivars, that is, artificially bred subspecies of coffee trees. We can name such varieties of Arabica as Blue Mountain, Bourbon, Kent, Geisha, Kona, Mocha, Typica, Java, and so on. Arabica has a lot of varieties. Robusta has them too.

Coffee varieties

Finally, we have reached the coffee varieties. Let’s give some examples. There is the Brazil Bourbon Santos variety, which we mentioned in the rating of the best. Bourbon is a variety of Arabica. Santos is a port city in Brazil through which coffee beans are exported, which indicates the region of cultivation. So, the name of the Brazil Bourbon Santos variety indicates that this is Arabica from the plantations of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. This is the principle of the name of coffee varieties – it is important to indicate a certain type of coffee and the region where it was grown. Professionals will immediately understand the quality of the variety.

But this is not a universal rule. For example, there is the Arusha variety. This is a variety of Arabica – Typica, named after the region of Tanzania where this coffee is grown. We are talking about the slopes of Mount Meru in the Arusha region. But this same variety is also grown in Papua New Guinea. And there are varieties whose names reflect the unique conditions of their growth or processing. A good example is the Malabar Monsoon Arabica and Malabar Monsoon Robusta coffee varieties. Their names reflect not only the region – the Malabar Coast of India, but also the method of dry processing, in which the beans are exposed to the long-term effects of local monsoon rains and winds.

A very famous type of coffee is Blue Mountain, one of the most delicious and expensive varieties in the world. This is Typica, a type of Arabica. Blue Mountains is the name of the mountains in the east of Jamaica, where these coffee trees were once grown. Now Blue Mountains are grown not only in Jamaica, but also in Hawaii, Haiti and even in Africa: in Cameroon and Kenya. The original Jamaican variety is called Jamaica Blue Mountain. Regional affiliation in the name of a particular variety is very important.

There are 2-3 thousand varieties of coffee in total.