Single Origin Coffee - How Location Affects Taste

Coffee beans come from some amazing places in the world. Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia… just to name a few. So, when you’re looking at choosing a single origin coffee, it can feel a bit overwhelming. You might wonder, what does it mean, why does it matter and, most importantly, how does it affect the taste?

All good questions!

What Does ‘Single Origin Coffee’ Mean?

 The meaning of ‘single origin coffee’ is relatively straight forward. It simply means that the coffee beans are sourced from a single producer, crop, mill or region in one country. Many times the detail of the coffee source is even in the name of the beans. For example, our Tony Tokah – Papua New Guinea Coffee Beans (check the shop to see when they are in stock) are sourced from Okapa, a district in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, where a smallholder farmer named Tony Tokah founded a coffee community to collect and deliver coffee to the Monpi Coffee Exports mill. 

In other cases, you might find just the name of the area, or the district, and in some, this may even go all way down to the specific estate that produced the beans. But the most important factor is that every bean comes from the single source.

Why Does Single Origin Matter?

Single origin matters because it provides us with traceability. In other words, it gives consumers a deeper understanding of where the coffee that they’re drinking comes from, who’s worked with it and lets us ensure they’re receiving a fair income within the coffee industry.

But single origin matters for another reason as well… taste. And this is why Coffee Drs’ customers (true coffee aficionados!) love single origin coffee – because they understand that a particular farm in a unique setting will impart different notes into the taste of the coffee. A bean produced in Ethiopia will have a different profile than one produced in Indonesia, and vice versa. That deeper understanding of the origin of the beans gives insight into the coffee’s overall flavour profile increasing their understanding of coffee generally and their enjoyment of every single cup.

How Location Affects Taste

There are three main elements that attribute to the flavour profile of single origin coffee:

• Terroir

• Geographic Location

• Farming Practices

Terroir

You can think of terroir as the lay of the land. These are factors like soil and climate type, and the altitude of the region. These factors interact together to influence how the beans grow, which of course impacts ultimately on the taste of the coffee that those beans produce. So, beans grown high in the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico will produce different flavour notes than those grown in the subtropical climate of Minas Gerais in Brazil (but both are delicious!).

Geographic Location

Now let’s get a little scientific. It seems relatively obvious that where coffee beans are grown on the planet will affect the taste, but the reason why is less obvious. In fact, what matters in terms of coffee bean production is where that geographic location lies in relation to the equator.

The coffee belt is usually considered to be the tropical band extending 25 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the equator. And it’s within this belt that you can find the most fertile soil, with the best temperatures, rainfall and elevations for growing the highest quality coffee beans. While this includes coffee heavy hitters Africa, South America and Asia, of course these aren’t the only places you can grow coffee beans. But the locations within the coffee belt are still generally considered to produce the finest tasting coffee on the planet.

Farming Practices

Farming practices are the final, and perhaps the most crucial factor affecting the flavour of your coffee. This comes down to factors such as how the beans are protected from pests, when the beans are harvested, how the cherries are processed after being picked and even how they are packaged to get to the roaster.

At the end of the day, the more knowledge a particular farmer has of his crop, and the more resources they have to achieve best practices, the better the quality of the coffee beans when they arrive to you. And the better the quality, the better the taste. 

Let Your Tastebuds Guide You

When it comes to the taste of single origin coffee, there are so many factors at play that you can find variation in quality and taste from even a single plantation. For all of our single origin coffees we include tasting notes to get you started, as well as a history of the coffee and its producer. But at the end of the day, you can just let your tastebuds guide you.

Maybe you’ll enjoy the fruity notes of Tony Tokah’s brews. Or maybe you prefer the astringent green tea quality of some Ethiopian coffees. There’s no right or wrong. And we’re always keen to hear your opinion!

Check out our shop’s tasting notes to see what we taste in our single origin coffees.