The world’s finest arabica coffee beans are listed by country in no particular order since the biggest factor is personal preference. For example, some people might prefer the winey and fruity acidity of a Kenyan coffee over the classic balance of a Colombian coffee. Others might not. So we’ll go ahead and disclaim that there’s a subjective element and include the most popular coffees, taking all of these factors into account with the highest rated coffees.
1) Tanzania Peaberry Coffee
Grown on Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Peaberry coffee is a bright Arabica coffee with a medium body and delightful fruit-toned acidity. The taste is deep and rich, often revealing hints of black currant which soften to chocolate and then blend into the coffee’s lingering, sweet finish.
Try a medium roast, which provides an aroma that is floral and complex, often exhibiting hints of pineapple, citrus, or coconut. The flavor is delicate, sometimes revealing winey notes and a velvety feeling on the palate.
2) Hawaii Kona Coffee
An Arabica coffee grown at about 2,000 feet above sea level on the fertile slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai Volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii, Kona coffee is known for its rich yet light and delicate taste with a complex aroma. Different farms will have slightly different coffees under their own brand, but shouldn’t be a blend.
Well-balanced with a medium body, it is clean in the cup with a bright and cheerful acidity. Kona coffee often reveals buttery as well as spicy qualities and subtle winey tones with an excellent aromatic finish.
3) Nicaraguan Coffee
A new arrival to the list this year is Nicaragua, which has developed a number of highly rated coffees. Coffees from this central american country typically exhibit notes of chocolate (dark, almost cacao-like) and fruits like apple and berries.
4) Sumatra Mandheling Coffee
Exhibiting a full body and low acidity, Sumatra Mandheling is a smooth drinking coffee. It is also known for its sweetness and herbacious, earthy flavor, and complex aroma. The coffee is grown in the Lintong region in north central Sumatra near Lake Toba. Sumatran coffees are known for being full bodied and having little acidity, making them perhaps the best low-acid coffee option here.
5) Sulawesi Toraja Coffee
This multi-dimensional coffee is grown in the southeastern highlands of Sulawesi. Known for its full body and rich, expansive flavor, Sulawesi Toraja coffee is very well balanced and exhibits tasting notes of dark chocolate and ripe fruit. The acidity is low-toned yet vibrant, with less body than a Sumatran coffee though slightly more acidic, and with more earthiness than a typical Java Arabica coffee.
Toraja’s rustic sweetness and muted fruit notes create a deep and brooding taste with a pungent spicy quality similar to finer Sumatran coffees. Toraja coffee is processed using the Giling Basah wet-hull method, which produces chaff-free green coffee beans. For Toraja coffee a dark roast is recommended.
6) Mocha Java Coffee
Perhaps the most famous coffee blend, Mocha Java includes Arabian (Yemen) Mocha coffee and Indonesian Java Arabica coffee, two coffees with complementary characteristics. The Yemen Mocha provides a lively intensity and pleasant wildness which complements the clean and bright smoothness of the Java coffee. The traditional blend of Mocha and Java coffee beans creates a complex and yet well-balanced brewed cup.
See the World’s Best History of Coffee to read about how sailing ships arriving from Java Island arrived in the the great Yemen port of Mocha [Mokha] where the two types of beans became mixed in the wooden hulls of the ships creating the favored blend, a happy accident of history.
7) Ethiopian Harrar Coffee
Spicy, fragrant, and heavy-bodied, Ethiopian Harrar coffee is a wild and exotic coffee bean that is dry-processed (natural) Arabica coffee grown in southern Ethiopia at elevations from 4,500 and 6,300 feet above sea level. The dry-processing creates a fruity taste likened to dry, red wine, a power house coffee exhibiting a bold taste that resonates in the cup.
Known for its winey and fruity, floral-toned acidity, Ethiopian Harrar is bright in the cup, even intense with a heady aroma that is rich and pungent, often with notes of blackberries and a lingering finish that may seem slightly fermented with intense notes of jasmine.
Edgy and bold, Ethiopian Harrar displays a complexity of spice tones including cardamom, cinnamon, apricots, blueberry jam, and compote. Some Harrars exhibit tones of very rich, dark chocolate.
8) Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Coffee
Fragrant and spicy, Yirgacheffee coffees are known for their sweet flavor and aroma with a medium to light body. The coffee is wet processed and grown at elevations from 5,800 feet to 6,600 feet above sea level.
Ethiopian Yirgacheffee displays a bright acidity along with an intense, clean flavor and a complexity of floral notes in the aroma, perhaps a hint of toasted coconut, along with a vibrant aftertaste and perhaps a slightly nutty or chocolaty quality. Yirgacheffe coffees are high-toned, floral and citrusy in contrast to the wild and jammy Ethiopian Harrars.
If you prefer your coffee heavy and sweet then choose a medium-dark roast or dark roast, though a medium roast allows the coffee’s delicate qualities to shine and enhance the bright acidity.
9) Guatemalan Antigua Coffee
Grown at elevations more than 4,600 feet above sea level, the grade of coffee beans of Guatemala Antigua is known as Strictly Hard Bean and include the Arabica varietals Catuai (Coffea arabica var. catuai), Caturra (Coffea arabica var. caturra), and Bourbon (Coffea arabica var. bourbon).
An exceptional premium coffee, Antigua exhibits the typical Guatemala coffee qualities of a full body (heavier than the usual Central American coffee) and spicy taste often rich and velvety. The Antigua coffee bean works well with a dark roast that creates a pleasing smoky taste in the brewed cup of coffee.
Which of these coffees you should buy isn’t as important as whether what you’re purchasing is fresh roasted – coffee is at it’s peak flavor within days of roasting, while many bags of coffee sit on store shelves in Starbucks and Amazon for weeks or months before they finally arrive at your door step. A great cup of inexpensive fresh roasted single origin coffee will always be better than old, stale blends.
10) Kenya AA Coffee
Clearly one of the world’s finest premium coffees, Kenya AA is grown at more than 6,600 feet above sea level on Kenya’s high plateaus. The AA refers to the biggest screen size in the Kenya coffee gradingsystem with specifications that the beans are just a little more than one-fourth inch in diameter.
Kenya AA coffee beans exhibit a full body and strong, rich taste with a pleasant acidity that some say provides the world’s brightest coffee. The aroma of Kenya AA is fragrant with floral tones while the finish is winey with berry and citrus overtones.
Photo: Eser-i Istanbul Platinum Coffee Cups
Source: EspressoCoffeeGuide.com