Coffee Around the World

Since last week was the first ever UK Coffee Week, raising money for African coffee producing countries, I have decided to dedicate this blog to this much loved (and sometimes much needed) drink. Coffee is grown on many different continents of the world and the production of coffee now brings in income to many people who rely mainly on the West’s consumption of it. Coffee has become not only a drink, but also a social interaction between people, and like everything else in the world, coffee comes in many different types. Let’s take a look at coffees around the world.

The Largest Producer of Coffee in the World – The coffee giant of this world is also one of the world’s largest countries and is home to the most important eco-system in the world. It is of course Brazil. Brazil produces about 35% of the world’s coffee and its main export is a type of coffee called Santos.

Best Coffee in the World – There has been much debate about this topic and just like wine tasting, coffee tasting and coffee critics are just as serious. A new list is produced every year, but one coffee that quite often tops the list and appears in the lots of web searches for the best type of coffee is the Esmeralda Special grown in Panama. It hails from one farm in Western Panama and it is also one of the most expensive, fetching up to £76 per pound. This is not the most expensive coffee in the world though.

Most Expensive Coffee in the World – The most expensive coffee is also one of the most disgusting sounding coffees in the world, as it is also known as poo coffee. It is called Kopi Luwak and comes from Indonesia and the coffee is so expensive because each individual coffee berry has to pass through the body of a weasel like animal first called a civit. The civit digests part of the berry and what is left it excretes and this is turned into coffee! No really – I’m joking.

Most Unexpected Coffee Growing Country – Until researching for this blog, I wasn’t aware that America actually grows its own coffee – well not America specifically, but the island of Hawaii.  It may not produce a lot of coffee but has consistently won awards for the standard and taste of its unique coffee beans.

Most Significant Coffee Growing Countries in the World – Apart from the countries I have mentioned, other significant coffee growing countries include: Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica and Kenya.

So tomorrow morning when you are taking your first sip of coffee just think about where it might have come from.