A Global Tour of Coffee-Producing Regions

Where a coffee is grown shapes how it tastes as much as anything the roaster does. Soil, altitude, climate, variety. Here's a quick lap of the regions that grow the world's coffee, and what each one puts in your cup.

Latin America

Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala. This is Arabica heartland and where most of the world's supermarket and cafe coffee starts. Colombian coffee is the classic balanced cup. Brazil, the world's biggest producer, leans nutty and chocolatey. Across the region you can expect bright acidity and approachable, crowd-pleasing flavours.

Africa

Ethiopia is where coffee began, and it still produces some of the most distinctive beans on earth. Yirgacheffe and Sidamo are famous for bright, floral, almost tea-like cups. Kenya brings sharp acidity and berry flavours. Newer specialty stars like Rwanda and Burundi grow at high altitude and produce complex, citrusy, spice-tinged coffees that roasters fight over.

Asia

This is Robusta's home turf, and Vietnam is its capital. Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee producer overall and the biggest producer of Robusta by far. Vietnamese Robusta is bold, chocolatey and high in caffeine, which is why it anchors espresso blends worldwide and why Vietnamese coffee culture is built around it. Indonesia adds its own signatures: earthy, full-bodied Java and deep, spicy Sumatra.

We've written a full guide to Vietnam's coffee regions if you want the detailed version, from the Central Highlands to Son La.

Central and South America's quiet achievers

Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador use their microclimates to grow crisp, sweet, well-balanced coffees that punch above their profile. Further south, Peru and Bolivia produce mild, smooth, fruity cups that rarely get the spotlight but deserve it.

Taste the map

The fun part is that you don't have to pick a side. Our Buffalo is pure Central Highlands Robusta, the flavour that made Vietnam a coffee superpower. Our Sunshine is high-grown Arabica from Son La in Vietnam's north, closer in style to the bright African and Latin cups. The Triplet Sampler lets you taste both ends of the spectrum, plus the blend that bridges them.