A Guide to Different Types of Coffees

There’s so much more to drinking coffee than just knowing whether you want a cappuccino or a shot of espresso. What really makes the drink are the beans, and the art of growing good beans is akin to the difference between a bottle of cheap wine and the finest Brunello from Montalcino.

Furthermore, coffee beans are a bit of a mystery to a lot people, since they only grow in specific regions, due to their finicky nature and need for specific weather patterns. Here’s a break-down of some of the most popular beans, and why they make such great coffee.

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Ever enjoyed a drink at a bar that included Tia Maria? Then you know the secret of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, which is known for its surprisingly mild flavor and serious lack of bitter aftertaste. In addition to flavoring one of the tastiest coffee liqueurs around, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee also is brewed as regular coffee. The coffee beans grow between Kingston and Port Maria in the Blue Mountains, where a cool and misty climate with a huge annual rainfall ensures the soil is just right to grow these special beans.

Kape Barako One of the types of coffee grown in The Philippines, not many people are familiar with Kape Barako, because of an infestation of Coffee Rust in the 1990s that almost wiped out the plants forever. A type of Liberica species, the coffee, when available, is popular with gourmets, who enjoy a blend where it’s mixed with Arabica to get the best tasting coffee with a distinct aroma.

Aloha Island Coffee Pods Some of the best coffee in the world comes from Hawaii, really the only place in the States where coffee beans thrive. The type of beans, Kona, come in many varieties, but the absolute best are produced at a private coffee plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii, located right on the slopes of Mauna Loa, the famous volcano. It’s the volcanic soil, coupled with rainfall and tropical sunshine, that makes these beans grow so well here, resulting in a cup of coffee that’s incredibly smooth and not at all acidic.

Kopi Luwak Always wanted to try a coffee made from beans that have already been eaten and digested? Well, you might have done that inadvertently, with Kopi Luwak coffee beans. Grown in Java, the coffee is some of the most popular around, all thanks to Asian Palm Civits, which love the coffee beans, eat them, and then digest them in a remarkable process that adds more flavor for us humans later. Apologies in advance if coffee was just ruined for you forever.

It’s important to realize how popular blends are within the world of coffee, too. Sometimes, one of these beans tastes even better if it’s offset with another, perhaps one that compliments that aroma or allows for more complex undertones of flavor. Mixing beans to produce the perfect cup of coffee is nothing new, and if you’re looking to really get into the intricate world of coffee beans and their distinctive flavors, go ahead and get a bean grinder, and start the experimentation process at home.

For socially-conscious consumers, one of the best things you can do, before deciding you absolutely must try a type of coffee bean, is to see if there’s an organization that produces and imports said beans in a fair-trade way. Harvesting coffee is tough work, and it’s a shame how unfairly paid a number of these production countries are, especially considering how much the beans draw around the world.

For a sizable Saturday BBQ, Damian Papworth’s 8 cup coffee maker comes in real useful. On any other standard day though, one cup coffee makers are more appropriate.