The Coffee Revolution : Quick Guide to Coffee Varieties

Impress your friends! This is how the experts describe the beans from coffee growing areas around the world.

THE AMERICAS: medium body, lively acidity, floral flavors, good balance.

* Brazil: mostly neutral coffee for blending purposes, but better coffees have more distinctive qualities of low acidity, clove and allspice aromas.

* Colombia: good acidity, medium body, caramelly aroma, consistent quality.

* Costa Rica: well balanced (“in my opinion, almost too good,” writes Tim Castle; “prissily balanced and sweetly smooth, like a pretty face”).

* Cuba: flat, suitable for dark roasts.

* El Salvador: mostly used in blends, particularly to add interest to espresso.

* Guatemala: acid, heavy body, well balanced, has a subtle smokiness.

* Haiti: casually grown and variable in quality; rarely seen.

* Hawaii: Kona plantations started with imported Central American coffee plants; typical Central American flavors.

* Honduras: blending coffee.

* Jamaican: famous for coffee from the Blue Mountain plantation, which is possibly the most over-rated--and certainly the most falsified--in the world.

* Mexico: medium acidity, smooth body, hazelnut aroma.

* Nicaragua: mostly a blending coffee, but with some distinctive plantations.

* Panama: heavy body, good acidity, mild flavor.

* Venezuela: blending coffee.

INDONESIAN FAMILY: full body, low acidity, earthy and exotic flavors.

* India: very low acidity, cinnamon and cedar aroma.

* Java: spicy and strong flavor.

* Sumatra: very full body, earthy and even musty quality.

* Sulawesi: very low acidity, earthy aroma.

* Papua New Guinea: rich flavor, good balance.

AFRICAN FAMILY: medium-full body, lively acidity, winy and floral flavors.

* Ethiopia: inconsistent quality because beans are still gathered from wild trees; also much falsification of the premium Harrar designation; wild, earthy and spicy flavors.

* Kenya: intense, acidic, floral, winy.

* Yemen: bitter, winy, cherry and incense aromas; most of what is sold as Yemen is actually Ethiopian.

* Zaire: mostly robustas, some well-balanced arabicas.

* Zambia: like Kenya but with more body and wininess.