This map shows the countries of the world sized according to the amount of coffee they produce. Click the map and watch the world transformed by coffee. More maps like this, representing a host of different topics in groups such…
Coffee regions
Vietnam: Will replacing old coffee mean more deforestation?
Half of Vietnam’s half-million ha of coffee trees will have to be replaced in the next 5 to 10 years. So far, farmers have ignored expert advice and cleared forests to plant cheap robusta coffee. What will they do now?
Coffee growing in Colombia
Juan Valdez, a half million small farmers, 1871 bird species, generic coffee, sparkling microlots, and the coffee and cocaine connection. There’s a lot to tell in the Colombian coffee story.
SMBC certifies its first African coffees
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) recently certified its first Bird-Friendly coffee outside of Latin America: Anfilo Specialty Coffee Enterprise in Ethiopia.
Vietnam planting more coffee
From Vietnam’s Thanh Nien News: [Robusta] Coffee bean prices [recently] reached a 13-year high of … US$2.50 per kilo.
Coffee growing on Hispaniola
The two nations of the island of Hispaniola — the Dominican Republic (DR) and Haiti — tend to be forgotten lands in the minds of U.S. coffee drinkers.
Coffee growing in Kenya
Kenyan coffees are distinctive in (at least) two ways. They have a unique, wine-like flavor, and they are produced and marketed under a government-controlled auction system. Samples are available to bidders prior to the weekly auction, and the highest bidder…
Coffee growing in Australia
Coffee in Australia? Coffee was first grown in Australia over a century ago, without much economic success. The high cost of labor made commercial coffee growing unprofitable until mechanical harvesting became common in the 1980s. (If you are interested in…
Kenya producing more organic coffee
A recent article notes that more producers in central Kenya are turning to organic coffee in order to take advantage of price premiums. This is welcome news, as over the last 15 years or so, Kenya has been one of…
Coffee growing in Brazil’s Cerrado region
Coffee growing in Brazil, in brief: Coffee was first planted in Brazil in the early 1700s. By the mid-1800s, Brazil was already the world’s #1 producer of coffee, a distinction is still holds today. However, it produces a great deal…
Papua New Guinea coffee
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the eastern half of a large island north of Australia. About 70-85% of the coffee is produced by small holders and 40% of the population derives income from coffee farming.
Tanzanian coffee
Most of our African coffee discussions have been about Rwanda or Ethiopia. I’d like to focus on Tanzania.
Research: Forest birds using Costa Rican coffee farms
Persistence of forest birds in the Costa Rican agricultural countryside. C. H. Sekercioglu, S. R. Loarie, F. Oviedo Brenes, P. R. Ehrlich, and G. C. Daly. 2007. Conservation Biology 21:482-494. This study radiotracked several species of resident forest birds in…
A sustainable Costa Rican coffee
In my post on coffee growing in Costa Rica, I described the difficulty in finding organic or truly shade grown coffee from this country. The folks from Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History recently visited a true organic, shade…
Coffee growing in Costa Rica
Costa Rica, more than any other Central American country, has embraced technified sun coffee.