A coffee shop in a village in the Philippines. Until the early 1960s, the Philippines did not grow enough coffee to meet domestic demand and the country currently exports very little coffee.
TRACEABILITY
Coffee comes from a mixture of cooperatives, estates and smallholder producers. The better coffees from the Philippines are usually more traceable, though very rare.
TASTE PROFILE
Great coffee from the Philippines is a rarity, but better lots are quite full-bodied, with low acidity and with light florals or fruity qualities.
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 100,982,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2016: 200,000
The Philippines is made up of 7,641 islands. As such, growing regions are often collections of islands or groups of territories, rather than distinct topographical areas such as mountain ranges.
CORDILLERA ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
A mountainous region in northern Luzon which includes the Mountain Province, Benguet, Kalinga, Ifugao and Abra, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) is the only landlocked region in the country. This is the highest growing area in the Philippines, though Robusta is grown at lower altitudes around northern Luzon.
Altitude:
1,000–1,800m (3,280–5,900ft)
Harvest:
October–March
Varieties:
Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Typica, Mondo Novo, Caturra
CALABARZON
This administrative region is mostly lowlands, growing coffee species other than Arabica, around Manilla and to the south and east.
Altitude:
300–500m (980–1,640ft)
Harvest:
October–March
Varieties:
Robusta, Excelsa, Liberica
MIMAROPA
This region is a collection of islands in the southwest which make up the four provinces of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan. While the mountainous areas reach high altitudes, coffee is mostly grown lower down.
Altitude:
300–500m (980–1,640ft)
Harvest:
October–March
Varieties:
Robusta, Excelsa
VISAYAS
Another group of islands, including Bohol which is famous for its unusual small rolling mountains called the Chocolate Hills. The Negros islands’ volcanic soil is well suited to coffee cultivation, but lacks the altitude for better-tasting coffee.
Altitude:
500–1000m (1,640–3,280ft)
Harvest:
October–March
Varieties:
Catimor, Robusta
MINDANAO
The southernmost coffee-growing region in the Philippines is its most productive. Nearly 70 per cent of coffee trees in the Philippines are planted in this region.
Altitude:
700–1,200m (2,300–3,940ft)
Harvest:
October–March
Varieties:
Mysore, Typica, SV-2006, Catimor, Robusta, Excelsa
A farmer dries coffee cherries in the town of Amadeo in the Calabarzon region. The Philippines is taking tentative steps toward regaining its status as a global trader of coffee beans.
THAILAND
One of the most credible stories of coffee’s introduction to Thailand dates to 1904. A Muslim pilgrim, returning home from Mecca, passed through Indonesia on his way back to Thailand and brought with him a Robusta plant, which he planted in the south of the country. Another story describes an Italian immigrant bringing Arabica to the north of the country in the 1950s. Whether either or both of these stories are true, it wouldn’t be until the 1970s that any economic importance was placed on coffee as a crop.
Between 1972 and 1979, the Thai government ran a pilot project to try to encourage farmers in the northern region to grow coffee instead of poppies destined for opium production. Coffee was considered sufficiently high value to be worth switching from opium production and the slash-and-burn style of agriculture that accompanied it. While this project did mark the beginning of a coffee industry in Thailand, coffee did not become a major crop until later.
Production peaked in the very early 1990s, but global price fluctuations have deterred producers so there have been substantial swings in production over the last two decades. As it is mostly Arabica grown in the north of the country and Robusta in the south, a large part of the fluctuation comes from the northern highlands where the price would have a bigger impact. Accurate tracking of production in Thailand is difficult, as coffee is often smuggled across the borders from Laos and Myanmar.
Today Thailand is steadily building a reputation as an underdog among producers of great coffees. While most coffee produced in the country isn’t particularly high quality, there are some farms and cooperatives working hard to produce an excellent product. The increasing domestic consumption of quality coffee is also helping growth in the industry.
TRACEABILITY
Coffees very, very rarely come from single estates. More common are producer groups or cooperatives among the more quality-focused producers.
Coffee beans spread out to dry in the sun in northern Thailand, where mostly Arabica is grown. The south of the country only produces Robusta.
TASTE PROFILE
Better coffee from Thailand is sweet, quite clean, but relatively low in acidity. Some spice and chocolate often accompany a relatively full mouthfeel.
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 68,864,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2016: 664,000
NORTHERN REGION
The northern mountainous area of Thailand is made up of coffee-growing provinces such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Mae Hong Son and Tak. All the speciality coffee from Thailand comes from this area, via the Doi Chaang collective.
Harvest:
November–March
Altitude:
1,000–1,600m (3,280–5,250ft)
Varieties:
Caturra, Catimor, Catuai
SOUTHERN REGION
The south of the country grows Robusta only, and coffee is produced in the provinces of Surat Thani, Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phang Nga, Krabi and Ranong.
Harvest:
December–January
Altitude:
800–1,200m (2,620–3,940ft)
Varieties:
Robusta
Community workers select coffee beans at Doi Chaang Coffee in the highlands of Chiang Rai Province.
A woman picks ripe red cofee cherries at a plantation in Chiang Rai in November, when the harvest season begins in northern Thailand. The last coffee crops are harvested in March.
VIETNAM
Vietnam could be considered an unusual inclusion in a book that focuses on high-quality speciality coffee, as it produces predominantly Robusta. However, Vietnam is different because of the impact it has had on every coffee-producing country in the world, and therefore merits inclusion to give some understanding.
Coffee was brought to Vietnam by the French in 1857, and was initially cultivated under the plantation model. However, this did not gain any momentum as a commercial venture until around 1910. Cultivation in the Buôn Ma Thuột region, in the Central Highland, was interrupted by the Vietnam war. After the war the coffee industry became increasingly collectivized, reducing yields and production. At this point around 20,000 hectares of land produced around 5,000–7,000 tonnes (5,500–7,700 tons) of coffee. Over the next 25 years, the amount of land under coffee would increase by a factor of 25 and the country’s overall production by a factor of 100.
Much of the industry’s growth was down to the Doi Moi reforms of 1986, which permitted privately owned enterprises in industries that produced commoditized crops. In the 1990s, a huge number of new companies were formed in Vietnam, many focusing on the large-scale production of coffee. At this time, specifically in between 1994 and 1998, prices for coffee were relatively high, which provided strong incentives t
o increase coffee production. Between 1996 and 2000, Vietnam’s coffee production doubled and this would come to have a devastating effect on the global price of coffee.
Vietnam’s massive increase in production, which made it the second-largest producer of coffee in the world, resulted in a state of global oversupply and this caused a massive price crash. Despite the fact that Vietnam was producing Robusta rather than Arabica, it still affected the price of Arabica because many of the largest purchasers needed a commodity product rather than a quality one. Thus the oversupply of low-quality coffee worked in their favour.
From the high point of 900,000 tonnes (990,000 tons) of coffee in 2000, production declined sharply. However, as coffee prices recovered, so did Vietnam’s production. The 2012/2013 crop was around 1.3 million tonnes (1.4 million tons) and it continues to have a large effect on the global industry. In recent years there has been a shift towards more Arabica, although the lack of altitude presents a challenge to achieving a high-quality product.
TRACEABILITY
There are several large estates in Vietnam, often controlled by multinational companies, so it is possible to see good levels of traceability. However, finding high-quality lots will prove extremely challenging.
Vietnam is the second-largest producer of coffee in the world, and most coffee is harvested by hand. At a plantation in Buôn Ma Thuôt workers remove twigs and leaves from the fresh cherries.
TASTE PROFILE
Very little high-quality coffee is available in Vietnam, and so most tastes flat, woody, and lacks sweetness or much character.
GROWING REGIONS
Population: 92,700,000
Number of 60kg (132lb) bags in 2016: 26,700,000
Because there has been little demand for traceable coffee, there aren’t strongly defined growing regions whose names are used by roasters.
CENTRAL HIGHLANDS
This region, a series of highland plateaus, contains the provinces of Dak Lak, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum and is primarily a producer of Robusta. The coffee industry is centred around Buôn Ma Thuôt, the capital of the province. Dak Lak and Lam Dong are the primary producers, growing about seventy per cent of the country’s Robusta crop between them. Arabica has been grown in the Central Highlands for about one hundred years, in the area around the city of Dalat in the Lam Dong region, but this makes up a very small part of the national production.
Altitude:
600–1,000m (2,000–3,300ft)
Harvest:
November–March
Varieties:
Robusta varieties, some Arabica (probably Bourbon)
SOUTH VIETNAM
There is some production northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, in the province of Dong Nai. This is primarily Robusta, and has attracted interest from large corporations such as Nestlé who are looking to improve their supply chain.
Altitude:
200–800m (650–2,600ft)
Harvest:
November–March
Varieties:
Robusta
NORTH VIETNAM
Arabica grows in the provinces of Son La, Thanh Hoa and Quang Tri in the north of the country, near the city of Hanoi. There is sufficient altitude for Arabica to grow well, but it is rare to see high-quality coffees produced here. Despite Arabica making up only three to five per cent of Vietnam’s total production, this is now enough to make it the fifteenth-largest producer of Arabica in the world.
Altitude:
800–1,600m (2,600–5,200ft)
Harvest:
November–March
Varieties:
Bourbon, Sparrow (or Se), Catimor, Robusta
In the southern province of Binh Dong, a worker moves one bag among hundreds in a warehouse owned by communist exporters. Most of the beans grown in South Vietnam are of the Robusta variety.
YEMEN
Yemen has been producing coffee on a commercial basis for longer than any other country, and its coffee is distinctive, perhaps challenging, and certainly unusual. Despite a strong demand for Yemeni coffee over the centuries, its trade has never commoditized. Yemen is unique, from its coffee varieties and its terraced farming to its processing and its trade.
Coffee came to Yemen from Ethiopia, either through trade or those making pilgrimages from Ethiopia to Mecca, and was well established in the country in the 15th and 16th centuries. Export of its coffee introduced the world to the port of Mocha, and I think it is fair to say that ‘mocha’ is probably the most confusing word in all of coffee’s lexicon (see The Term ‘Mocha’).
Only three per cent of the land in Yemen is suitable for farming, water being the major limiting factor. Coffee is grown on terraced land at high altitudes and additional irrigation is required to keep the coffee trees healthy. Many farmers depend on non-renewable sources of deep underground water, and there is some concern over depleting stocks. Fertilization of the soil is not particularly common, so there is an additional problem of depleting soil nutrients. All these factors, coupled with the sheer remoteness of the coffee-growing regions, go some way to explaining the huge number and variation of heirloom varieties of Arabica found in the country, most of them peculiar to their growing regions.
Yemen’s coffee is picked by hand, with pickers visiting a tree several times in a season. Despite this, selective picking is not particularly commonplace, with underripe and overripe cherries often being harvested. Whole cherries are usually dried in the sun after harvesting, often on the roofs of the farmers’ homes. Rarely do these roofs provide enough space, so the cherries are often piled too deep to dry correctly, resulting in defects such as uneven drying, fermentation and mould.
Each producer may only grow a very small amount of coffee. Data from the 2000 census shows that around 99,000 households produced coffee, and based on estimates of production the average household produced just 113kg (249lb) of raw coffee that year.
There remains a strong global demand for Yemeni coffee, and about half of exports go to Saudi Arabia. Coupled with limited production and relatively high production costs, this makes it sell for high prices. Demand has not increased the traceability of the coffee, and it can travel through a network of middlemen from the farmer through to the exporter. Coffees can also sit for quite some time (often years) at the point of export, as some exporters sell their oldest stocks first, and warehouse their newer crops in caverns underground.
Since the civil war began in 2015, coffee production in Yemen has been badly affected. The actual volumes produced have decreased only a little, but exports have fallen to a little over half of what they were before the war. Be aware that there has been an increase in the fraudulent mislabelling of Ethiopian coffees, with many being presented as Yemeni coffees to try to meet the existing demand and achieve a premium price.
THE TERM ‘MOCHA’
Originally, the word referred to the port in Yemen from where coffee was exported. This spelling soon changed to ‘moka’, and the term was used to describe the potent and pungent coffees produced in Yemen. Some naturally processed coffees from other countries are still described this way, such as Moka Harrar from Ethiopia.
The coffees from Yemen were often blended with coffees from Java, and the Mocha-Java blend was born. However, the name was not protected and thus became a kind of stylistic term used by many roasters to describe the flavour of a particular blend they created, rather than where the component coffees came from. The current use of the term ‘mocha’ to describe a mixture of hot chocolate and espresso only serves to further bewilder the consumer.
QESHER
Qesher, also Q’shr or Qishr, is a by-product of coffee production. It is the dried, but not roasted, husks removed from the coffee cherries. In Yemen, these husks are often brewed like tea as a way to consume a form of coffee. More recently, producers in Central America have been experimenting with the same product, there called cascara. This is usually just the dried fruit of the cherry, rather than both the fruit and the dried parchment seen in qesher.
TRACEABILITY
Trying to understand exactly where coffees come from in Yemen can be extremely confusing. Often the name of the coffee will include the term ‘Mocha’, indicating the port from which it was exported. Usually coffees are only traceable back to a particular region within Yemen, rather than to the farm where they were produced. It is also common to see the local names for different coffee varieties used to describe the coffee, such as Mattari.
In the old city of Al-Masnaah, northwest of Sana’a, a vendor makes coffee for his customers. The Yemeni coffee trade is several hundred years old and harvests continue to be highly sought after.
The World Atlas of Coffee: From beans to brewing - coffees explored, explained and enjoyed Page 18