What is single origin coffee?

Coffee is the source of motivation for many people every day. Some people say that coffee helps them feel better, and some people say that coffee helps them have more topics to share when socializing with others. But do you know what the characteristics of the coffee you are drinking are? Is it a single product or a boutique?

There are many varieties of coffee, and the most common ones are Blue Mountain, Mocha, Sumatra, Yirgacheffe, Italian, boutique coffee, etc. In fact, there are also single origin coffees. What are single origins? Are they more advanced? Today, the editor will explain to you.

What is single origin coffee?

Single Origin Coffee is a very vague term. It refers to coffee beans grown in one country, one region, one cooperative, one estate or one coffee farm. Some people even define it as the same batch of coffee beans grown by the same person or at the same time. Some even define it as a specific tree...

Anyone who has looked for single origin coffee may have seen this quote from Andra Vlaicu of SCAE:

The most important thing about single origin coffee is its traceability, the fact that you know exactly where your coffee comes from, it is a coffee from a specific region, not a blend. Usually the quality is higher, it is the recognition of what kind of unique environment and what kind of exclusive farm the coffee comes from, and its flavor portrays its origin, and a specific coffee will have the characteristics of a specific region.

Nowadays, more and more people pay attention to the origin of coffee, and even make a resume for coffee. You can clearly know from the resume which farm the coffee comes from, the processing plant, the roasting process, etc. You can see all these detailed details from the resume of coffee. This is single origin coffee.

Characteristics of single origin coffee

Single-origin coffee is becoming more and more popular, and it is gradually becoming the mainstream, because the name of the coffee from a specific region represents the flavor of the coffee. That is to say, when you hear the coffee in front of you, your mind will naturally think of what the coffee should taste like and what kind of aroma it should emit. Single-origin coffee can best express the unique personality of the coffee beans. Due to the different regional production areas of different countries, some are more sour and some are more bitter. Of course, the roasting mode of the roaster will also change the tonality of the beans. At the light to medium roasting degree, the "terroir" of the coffee itself is most easily expressed, but it does not mean that the taste of the coffee beans will be almost the same if they are roasted too deeply.

The Myth of Single Origin Coffee

As we mentioned above, the definition of single origin coffee is actually quite vague, in fact, because there is no authoritative and clear standard internationally. There are four common standards for single origin coffee: single origin, single variety, single batch, and single processing method.

Single variety? This definition must be denied first. First, in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, there are wild coffee varieties growing everywhere, and even the locals can't tell which tree is which. Then in Sumatra, Indonesia, after a long period of interbreeding and leaf rust, most of the current Sumatra coffee is a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta coffee. Not to mention single varieties, there are not many coffee trees with a single Arabica lineage. Not only in Africa and Asia, but also in many coffee farms in Central America, there is a practice of mixed planting and harvesting of different varieties. So, the definition of single origin coffee has no possibility of limiting the variety at all.

Single processing method? There are already Single Origin coffees with different processing methods on the market. For example, FincaGuayabo Chocolate Lover Estate in Santa Ana Volcano, El Salvador, launched a single origin coffee bean with 50% honey processing and 50% washed in 2017. It is 100% Bourbon variety and uses different processing methods to make the flavor of the whole coffee more multi-layered and richer in taste. Despite the mixed processing methods, whether it is the estate owner, green bean merchant or roaster, they all sell it as a single origin coffee. Do you think it counts?

It is probably a single origin coffee from a single production area and a single batch. Then those who like to nitpick may ask again, even if it is the same batch of single origin beans, when they are roasted in different batches and different roasting degrees, and then mixed together, is it still considered "single origin" coffee? Well... just be happy ~ I dare not say whether it is or not, and I dare not ask.