Coffee countries

Coffee is, next to oil, the most important trading commodity in the world. Coffee is mainly consumed in the “rich West” while most of the production takes place in economically less developed countries.

The following ten countries are the largest coffee-producing countries in the world. The figures are based on the number of bags of produced coffee. A bag represents 60 kg of green (unroasted) coffee.

Brazil (22.5 million bags)
After coffee was introduced from French Guiana in the early 18th century, coffee spread and flourished rapidly in Brazil. Today Brazil is responsible for approximately one third of the global coffee production, making it by far the most important coffee country in the world. Although many experts believe that Brazil’s emphasizes quantity too much and quality too less, there is also much praise for some finer coffee varieties. Brazil is the only country in the world’s top coffee producing countries, which suffers from periodic frosts. The devastating frost in 1975 came as a blessing for other coffee producing countries. Two frosts in 1994 increased global coffee prices.
Known coffees: Bahia, Bourbon, Santos.

Colombia (10.5 million bags)
Colombia is the only South American country with ports on both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. This is invaluable for the coffee industry. The economic importance of coffee for Colombia is so big that all vehicles entering the country are disinfected to prevent harmful bacteria to get access to coffee farms. Colombian coffee grows in the moist, temperate foothills of the Andes, where the combination of high altitude and moist climate provides a very mild coffee blend.
Known coffees: Medellin, Supremo, Bogotá.

Indonesia (6.7 million bags)
The Dutch unconsciously nicknamed coffee in the late 17th century, when they launched the first successful European coffee plantation on the island colony of Java (now part of Indonesia). Today still top quality Arabica coffee is being produced in Java, as in Sumatra, Sulawesi and Flores, but the Indonesian archipelago is still the most remarkable in that it is the world’s largest producer of robusta beans.
Known coffee: Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi (Celebes).

Vietnam (5.8 million bags)
French missionaries first brought coffee to Vietnam in the mid 1860s, but production remained negligible until about 1980. In the 1990s, the Vietnamese coffee production increased very rapidly. The production grew so quickly that concerns arose about quality control because the human and machine processing capacity was not able to keep up with the growth rate of the coffee crop.
Known coffee: Vietnam specializes in the production of robusta species.

Mexico (5 million bags)
Coffee came from the Antilles to Mexico at the end of the 18th century, but was not exported in large quantities until the 1870s. Today about 100,000 small businesses produce the most Mexican coffee, most of which are located in southern Mexico. Mexico is the largest source of U.S. coffee imports.
Known coffees: Altura, Liquidambar MS, Pluma, Coixtepec.

Ethiopia (3.8 million bags)
Ethiopia is the home of the Arabica tree, good for many legends about the origin of coffee. Ethiopia is Africa’s largest arabica exporter and also the number one of the continent in terms of domestic coffee consumption. Approximately 12 million Ethiopians are engaged in coffee production, processing and trade. According to one legend, the name coffee comes from a derivation of “Kaffa”, the name of an Ethiopian province.
Known coffees: Harrar, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe.

India (3.8 million bags)
According to legends, India is the birthplace of coffee cultivation east of Arabia. Today coffee production is under the strict control of the Indian Coffee Board. Groups of experts believe this reduces economic incentive and thereby decreases the coffee quality.
Known coffees: Mysore, Malabar Monsooned.

Guatemala (3.5 million bags)
German immigrants in the 19th century were responsible for the start of a significant coffee cultivation in Guatemala. Today the high grown coffees, especially those grown in the southern volcanic slopes, are among the best in the world.
Known coffees: Atitlan, Huehuetenango.

Ivory Coast (3.3 million bags)
In the mid 1990s, Côte d’Ivoire was the fifth largest coffee producer in the world and the third largest producer of robusta. Why the decline? Connoisseurs say that the emphasis on quantity and a lack of investment and planning negatively affected the quality; therefore also reducing the productivity per acre. Today most coffee exported ends up in mass-produced coffees in Europe, especially in France and Italy.
Known coffees: the Ivory Coast specializes in robusta coffee.

Uganda (3 million bags)
Although Uganda grows very little arabica, it is a major producer of robusta. The robusta species account for 75 percent of export earnings of the country and employs 80 percent of all Ugandan workers. Despite efforts to diversify, Uganda will probably long remain totally dependent on coffee production.
Known coffees: Bugisu.

Click on the link to read more about drinking coffee.