Coffee Growing Regions

Coffee growing regions span the globe between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. There are ~50 coffee producing countries with exports for 2010 at 130 million bags (120-150lb/bag). The unique flavors of each region and each farm come from the coffee bean cultivar, soil make-up, weather, altitude and processing (wet or dry processing with variables within each process).

There are many cultivars of arabica, but most are chosen by the producer to fit the production process or for resistance to weather, bacteria, diseases, etc. per location, not taste characteristics.

Coffee plants need a moderate equatorial climate because they will not survive in frost. The climate in coffee producing regions of each country holds steadily around 70oF all year every year with plenty of rainfall.

Coffee is grown between 2000-6500 ft above sea level with the robusta species grown at the lowest elevations and arabica species generally found in elevations of 3,000-6500 ft above sea level. The higher elevations produce a harder bean.

Of all the coffee producing regions, the three leading exporters are Brazil, Vietnam (Robusta) and Colombia. Some of the leading producing regions are:

Brazil

Vietnam

Colombia

Indonesia

India

Mexico

Guatemala

Ethiopia

Costa Rica

Uganda

Honduras

Peru

El Salvador

Nicaragua

Thailand

Ecuador

Kenya

Cameroon

Tanzania

Philippines

Hawaii

Dominican Republic

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