There are fine selections of coffee that come from the Caribbean (Jamaica, Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic and even coastal Venezuela). Most of these are powerful yet lower-toned, and with an acidity which holds in the deep, sweet and long finish. The most well known of these is obvioucly the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which is intense and rounded, a big coffee with a richly balanced acidity. The unfortunate part is that small production areas have led to many cases of diluting higher grown, better quality product with lower grown ordinary varieties, thus making this well known origin a rather ordinary Caribbean coffee, usually not worth the price which is triple or quadruple what you would pay for other fine origins. Just be cautious about your supply line and steer clear of anything claiming to be “Blue Mountain Style” or “Blue Mountain Blend”.

Other gentler classics would be Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru and Mexico. All of which tend to be lively more than overpowering in acidity and rounded in flavour. These are coffees with abundant natural sweetness which will come through in lighter roasts and get enhanced in the darker profiles. Their gentler acidity makes them very attractive to the black coffee drinker who abstain from using sweeteners. In terms of body, these range from well rounded coffees such as Peru, to fuller bodied coffee from Nicaragua, or light and sweet varieties such as El Salvador. You also have some origins which display fruitier and floral tones like Mexico or Panama when they are not over roasted.

The last of the classics is Brazil, which deserves a post all on its own, being the largest coffee producer in the world with an ample variety within one origin.