What is Single Origin Coffee?

Single origin coffee is made from green coffee that is cultivated in one defined geographical area.  Balam’s Jaguar Forest Chiapas coffee, for example, is a single origin coffees cultivated in the higher altitudes of the Mexican state of Chiapas.

 Single origin coffee reflects the distinct flavors of the coffee’s growing region. Organic coffee is a 100% natural product, and its unique flavors come from the earth, water, sun, altitude and air particular to the region where it is grown.  When you taste Jaguar Forest single origin organic coffee, you are tasting the roasted seeds of a bush grown deep in the forests of high-altitude southern Mexico—the region where jaguars and other exotic wildlife still roam free.  Single origin coffee drinkers come to appreciate the consistent and distinct flavors of the micro-zone where their coffee was grown. They know what they are getting and where their coffee comes from.

Many roasters prefer to blend their coffee.  While there are excellent coffee blends, blending in many cases allows roasters to mix in cheaper, inferior coffee. Blended coffee, usually labeled with generic names such as “French Roast” or “Breakfast Blend,” is generally an indiscriminate mix of sun and shade-grown Asian, African, and South American coffee. From one week to the next, the composition of the blend changes, often depending on the market prices of the different green coffees at the time they were purchased.   Because the composition of the blend changes so much, many blends are roasted very dark, so that they have a consistently charred taste which masks the significant changes in the blend’s composition.

Wine, scotch, and tequila connoisseurs know that single origin means quality and consistency.  In the last 10 years, coffee drinkers have also become increasingly aware of the importance of single origin, wanting to know where their coffee is from, and demanding the quality, consistency, and subtle flavors that single origin coffee offers. 

Written By: Matthew Metz