Why do coffee beans from high altitude regions taste better?

High in nutrients

Anyone who has climbed a mountain knows that the higher you go, the lower the temperature. Anyone who has been to the top of a mountain also knows that the temperature difference at high altitudes is particularly large! It is precisely because of these natural conditions that coffee beans in high-altitude production areas grow slowly, so that they can accumulate more nutrients, just as the old saying goes, "Children who grow slowly get milk every day." A simple analogy is the difference between a three-month-old feed chicken and a one-year-old free-range chicken.

Coffee beans grown at high altitudes are harder because they have more nutrients and grow stronger, which is a "muscle" that is slowly trained. Coffee beans grown at relatively low altitudes and too fast grow loose. Coffee lovers who like to grind by hand must have experienced that it is more difficult to grind premium beans such as Yirgacheffe than beans from other low-altitude production areas. This is because they are hard enough.

Growth height grade

● Strictly Hard Bean (extremely hard beans) about 1372-1524 meters SHB

● Good Hard Bean (high hard beans) about 914-1372 meters GHB

● Hard Bean (hard bean) about 610-914 meters HB

● Pacific (Pacific Coast production area) about 300-1000 meters Pacific

Less chlorogenic acid

After tasting the rich and flavorful specialty coffee, do you also dislike the bitter and astringent coffee that scratches your tongue? Then do you know who is the culprit of the bitterness of coffee? It is the fierce woman called chlorogenic acid.

Because if the growing environment of coffee beans is bad, such as insect pests, high temperature, and dryness, the coffee beans will summon the chlorogenic acid army to protect themselves. Compared with lower altitudes, high altitudes undoubtedly provide an ideal growing environment, so the chlorogenic acid is relatively less.

Rich in tannins

Studies have found that coffee grown in high-altitude production areas has richer tannins than other coffees, which makes good coffee have a sweet aftertaste like tea, rather than the sour taste of taking a bite of lemon or drinking a sip of vinegar.

Therefore, many coffee merchants use "high altitude" to promote the quality of coffee beans, and many producing areas grade the quality of coffee beans according to the altitude at which the coffee beans grow.

High in sucrose

The sucrose content is proportional to the altitude, and the sucrose content is proportional to the taste of our coffee. Although it is called sucrose, it is not a sweet candy. During the roasting of coffee, sucrose will produce a lot of aromatic substances, release caramel, and form the unique rich aroma of coffee. Coincidentally, tea also contains a lot of aromatic substances.

So, the only factor that has a fatal impact on coffee is altitude? However, it is not! We have overlooked another important factor: latitude. Just like grape cultivation, latitude has a huge impact on the quality of coffee.

The farther away from the equator, the lower the temperature and the greater the temperature difference. The equatorial region has the highest heat. Even if it can be planted at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, the temperature is still high and the temperature difference will not be too large. Studies have shown that compared with low-latitude areas at the same altitude, coffee in high-latitude areas will have better quality. Therefore, latitude is also a geographical factor that affects coffee quality.

The heat is low on both sides of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and most of the planting is below 1,000 meters, mainly distributed in Yunnan in my country. Some very few production areas beyond the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn have high altitudes and suitable latitudes, which are prone to greater temperature differences, which are extremely beneficial to the growth of coffee, just like a boy who grows up slowly, accumulates a lot and then bursts out, and finally becomes a real handsome man.

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