What are the best coffee origins/What are the best coffees?

People always ask, ‘What’s the best coffee origin?’ That’s the wrong question. It’s like asking me the best ingredient in a kitchen. Salt? Butter? Tomatoes? Depends on what you’re trying to cook.

An origin isn’t a guarantee of quality. It’s geography. Geography gives you possibility.

I’ve had Ethiopian coffees that tasted like jasmine and peach and made me stop talking for a minute. I’ve also had Ethiopian coffees that were just… okay. Same with Colombia. Same with Guatemala. Same with Kenya. Every country has extraordinary coffees and forgettable coffees.

And this is where I’d push you.

A lot of specialty coffee drinkers develop what I’d call “origin bias.” I’m no exception to this. 

“Ethiopia is the best.”

“Kenya has the most complexity.”

“Colombia is boring.”

“Brazil is only for espresso.”

“Natural process is superior.”

A chef doesn’t say Burgundy is the best wine region, or Sicily grows the best tomatoes. They ask, What am I trying to create?

Coffee deserves the same approach.

If you want elegance and balance, a washed Kenyan might be exactly right.  If you want sweetness and approachability, a Brazilian could outperform it every morning of the week.

If you want florals that border on perfume, Ethiopia sometimes gets there. If you want tropical fruit and acidity with incredible structure, Colombia is producing coffees today that would have seemed impossible twenty years ago because of advances in processing and farm management.

None of those are “better.”

They’re different expressions of the same ingredient.

I also think coffee people sometimes chase novelty at the expense of deliciousness.

If the cup tastes like mango gummies, pink Starburst, and watermelon Jolly Ranchers…Awesome, that’s cool.

Do you want another cup?  Nope. 

The coffees I remember aren’t always the craziest. They’re the ones where acidity, sweetness, aroma, and body all pull in the same direction. They’re complete.

Coming from a chef’s perspective, balance usually beats spectacle.

People obsess over origin because it’s easy. It’s much harder to talk about things like:

cultivar

elevation

picking practices

fermentation

drying

storage

roasting

grinding/brewing

Origin is a starting point.  A poor roast plan will destroy an incredible Gesha.  A bad grinder can erase the effort of everyone before it.

A crappy brew can make a $40 coffee taste worse than a well-brewed everyday batch brew. 

So if you forced me to answer the original question “What is the best origin?”   I’d replace it with a better approach:

The best origin(s) are the ones where exceptional producers consistently turn great soil into delicious coffee, and where the roaster is disciplined enough to get out of the way.