For many people, their love of coffee can be traced back to when they first discovered that specialty coffee doesn’t just taste like coffee, but in fact can have many unique flavours which vary, just like wine, depending on the coffee farm of origin. There are still many people even in Australia who’ve never tasted specialty coffee, and so for this reason alone it is expected that these high quality coffees will be in even higher demand in the future, as new coffee drinkers discover and enjoy their unique flavours.
We love our special reserve range, because it represents everything specialty coffee should be – a unique range of coffees from around the world, all traceable and produced to the highest standards!
Yellow bourbon coffee
What determines the flavour of a coffee?
Each single origin coffee has its own flavour profile, and the blueprint that creates that profile includes a huge range of attributes such as coffee tree variety, altitude of the farm, processing method used and how that processing is carried out, ripeness of the coffee ‘cherries’ (the fruit of the coffee tree) when they are picked, storage method, and freshness of the green coffee seed.
Farms in the same local vicinity who don’t have processing equipment on-site will often contribute coffee cherry for processing at a central “co-op” or coffee cooperative. The co-op is also where the final drying phase takes place, before it is bagged and shipped. As you can imagine, the practices of the co-op can significantly affect the final flavour in the cup.
With green coffee finally arriving at a roaster, the roasting process then imparts another set of variables. The roaster’s goal is to develop a roast profile for each coffee which enhances the flavour of that coffee for the chosen brew method, whether it be espresso, or a filter brew method such as the aeropress. The roaster must know his green coffee well enough to avoid any potential mistakes. For example, a softer coffee bean from Brazil may not take kindly to the same roast profile as a hard Kenyan bean, and could impart that ashy flavour which good roasters try so hard to avoid.
Young coffee trees sprouting new leaves in the summer
One of, if not the biggest factor is the country of origin. Here’s a quick guide to some of the flavours you will encounter as you try coffees from our entire range, including special reserve:
Africa/Arab Peninsula Coffee (click to browse these coffees)
Coffee from Ethiopia is often sourced from some of the oldest coffee trees in the world. You could say that in some respects, coffee trees do improve with age (up to a point), just like old vine wine. Ethiopian coffees can be intensely floral, often with a jasmine-like scent and perhaps even orange blossom. In the cup, expect big fruity notes from regions such as Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, with Harrar being more earthy. There is definitely something wonderful about a well processed, clean and super floral ethiopian coffee. Always a popular choice amongst coffee enthusiasts.
Kenya is another huge coffee producing nation, with flavours tending to be cleaner than ethiopian, in part due to the washed processing method used in Kenya. Kenyan coffee is often described as super sweet, with tasting descriptors across the tropical fruits and ripe berries – blueberry, blackberry, lemon, orange, banana, the list goes on!
Rwanda coffee can be a little less fruity than Kenyan, but it can still pack a punch in the acidity department. Other coffees you might run across from this region include Yemen, which can have a distinct musk-like sweetness, and Tanzania.
South American Coffee (click to browse these coffees)
Includes Brazil, the biggest coffee-producing nation. A top shelf Brazil coffee can offer some very unique but perhaps more subtle flavour variations than other regions. Brazil coffees tend to be a little milder, but can be very well balanced and a real “just one more cup” experience awaits when you discover a good one! Brazil coffees are often used in blends as they won’t necessarily overpower other coffee origins used in the blend as flavour highlights. Quality Brazils are great as single origin beans too. Columbia, Bolivia and Peru are all included in this region, and each country has slightly different flavour characteristics. Columbians can have big body, while Bolivians are also big and powerful like a Kenyan and can have a real fruity edge.
Central American Coffee (click to browse these coffees)
Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico. These are some of the most highly sought after coffee growing regions in the world. Costa Rican coffee is known for being exceptionally well-balanced, while Panama can produce coffee of extremely high quality, with the florality of the Geisha varietal probably the most intense of any coffee anywhere in the world. Guatemala is consistently producing a range of amazing coffees, all with unique flavours. Nicaragua coffee is another very interesting origin, which can have massive body in the cup, and plenty of sweetness. El Salvador and Mexico also enjoy a good reputation.
Indian, Indonesian & Australian Coffee (click to browse these coffees)
These last three regions are no less interesting and flavourful. Indian coffee is very unique. Some of the processing methods such as monsooning result in unmistakable flavours, while quality Indian coffee can be very sweet and intensely flavourful. Indonesian and Australian coffees can be harder to find, but they too have their own distinct flavours, with Indonesian having huge body and Australian coffee from the likes of Mountain Top Estate having thick, syrupy ripe-fruit flavours.
Ready to taste some coffee?
We have a range of great new central american coffees in store now. They’ve just arrived, so they’re super fresh and are already flying out the door. If you’re not a home roaster, we roast fresh to order and deliver to your door.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this short guide to some of the coffee flavours from around the world. The best part is, you don’t need to buy an airline ticket to taste them!
