Exploring the World of Single Origin Coffee: From Farm to Cup

Whilst you enjoy your cup of Brazilian or Sumatran coffee every morning, have you ever wondered about the journey those coffee beans have been on to get to you? With an estimated 2.25 billion cups of coffee being consumed daily around the world, it is increasingly important for us to be conscious and aware of where our coffee is coming from. It’s about time you entered the world of single origin coffee.

Put simply, single origin coffee is coffee grown in a single geographic location and sourced from a single producer. It is important to highlight that the main thing about single origin coffee is that it is traceable and consumers are able to find out exactly where their coffee is coming from.

In this post I will discuss all things single origin coffee, and there is much to discuss. I will cover factors influencing coffee growth, such as climate, terrain and altitude, all the way through to market demand, cultural significance in various regions and important brewing information.

Why should you choose a single origin coffee over your regular supermarket coffee? Well, there are a lot of reasons!

For starters, supermarket coffee is often pre ground with no specific brewing method indicated on the packaging. To explain this simply, different coffee grind sizes are required for different brewing equipment. You wouldn’t use espresso grounds for a cafetière! But many people are not aware of the importance of this, and will end up with a poor tasting coffee.

Similarly, the roast date for supermarket coffee is unknown, as it is rarely noted on the packaging, but your local coffee shop shouldn’t be using coffee beans that are over 21 days old, as the coffee has gone past its best at this point. You wouldn’t settle for this at a coffee shop, so don’t settle for this at home. You deserve better.

The last point I will highlight on this topic is that supermarket coffee is most often, not traceable. If you want a clean and honest product, you should stick with a single origin coffee.

There are many regions that grow single origin coffee, most notably Ethiopia, Colombia and Brazil, but there are many other locations, such as Sumatra, Mexico and Honduras. Different regions are known for different flavour profiles, for example, Brazilian coffee is best known for producing notes of chocolate and nuts. As you can imagine, these regions differ in many areas, like altitude, climate, and time of year that beans are harvested; this also means that the way the beans are processed will differ between regions. Additionally, topography, rain and soil composition will all influence the growth of the coffee, but this is a whole other subject we will discuss at another date.

It’s important to consider the affects of these main factors, so let’s dig in!

The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature, and if any of you are into your houseplants, you will know how much growth can slow over winter. Well, this is the same with coffee. Colder temperatures will slow down growth of the coffee plants. The slowing down of the growth means the plants will put more energy into the beans. The longer the plant takes to grow, the more intense the flavours within the beans will become. Arabica coffee grows at higher altitudes whilst robusta coffee grows much lower. As a result, the robusta grows much quicker. The slow growth of the arabica beans results in much smoother and sweeter flavour compared to the robusta.

Processing methods will vary depending on the region as a result of all of these factors, and also as a result of the resources that are available. As an example, Brazil uses a natural milling process, where the coffee beans are laid on a bed in the sun to dry, and once dried, the skin is milled (removed) to access the green beans underneath the skin.

Sumatran coffee is ‘wet hulled’, a completely different process, also referred to as ‘giling basah’. This process is commonplace in Indonesia, and if you’ve ever had Indonesian coffee, you’ll know they lack sweetness and have a distinct taste. Sumatran coffee is one of our favourites.

Giling basah involves the coffee being painstakingly hand picked, having the skin removed, leaving to ferment for 24-36 hours in water containers and then allowing the coffee to dry in the sun for 20 days until it reaches 11% moisture level. After this, the coffee is bagged and allowed to rest for a further 30 days.

I’d like to delve deeper into the Sumatran coffee processing. Our Sumatran beans come from Ketiara, which is a women-led cooperative, grown in the Aceh province, deep in the forested mountains of the Leuser national park, meaning this is a ‘shade grown’ coffee. Shade grown coffee has a wealth of ecological benefits, including protection of biodiversity, the ecosystem and the local water supplies. This is because no deforestation is required for shade grown coffee, and the minimal sunlight allows a longer growth time for the coffee.

This cooperative is led by a group of women and is critical in giving women credit for their crucial roles in the coffee industry.

This is just a surface level insight into the world of single origin coffee processing!

In terms of cultural significance, as you can imagine, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee cultivation, and around 15 million people in Ethiopia rely on coffee production for their livelihoods.

Costa Rica has earned itself a brilliant reputation within the speciality and single origin coffee market, as it is so focused on sustainable farming practices.

As the second largest exporter of coffee globally, Colombia relies on coffee heavily, with coffee accounting for 7-8% of gross domestic products.

Again, this only scratches the surface, but serves purely as a highlight into the cultural significance of coffee in different regions.

It’s not all sunshine and roses in the world of single origin coffee, and coffee farmers often face issues. This includes but is not limited to pests and disease on the plants, changing climate, irregular rains and the cost of cultivation. Cultivation requires an investment to prepare the land, build infrastructure, pay for employees and purchase equipment. This can be a challenge for small scale, local farmers, and can often result in limited access to modern farming techniques. This can significantly slow down the process and lead to difficulty with meeting the market demand.

Moving over from farm over to cup, using a fresh single origin coffee requires a little know how. Grinding your coffee right before you brew Is the best way to go. If you are serious about getting into single origin coffee, we recommend your money goes into a good grinder above anything else. As wonderful as single origin coffee is, having it pre ground in a bag for long periods of time is not ideal. Plus, if you invest in a great grinder, you can switch up your brew methods each time. Freshness of your grind is crucial for you to get the best out of your beans, hence why your local coffee shop is using that big grinder right before they pull your espresso shots!

We hope this has given you a little insight into how that coffee ended up In your cup this morning, and we will explore many more coffee related topics in the near future. Thank you for taking the time to read!

Cora
Zealots Coffee & Tea Ltd