Relationship between altitude and coffee flavor | with the increase of altitude, the aroma of coffee will become gradually.

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The influence of geographical location on the flavor of coffee beans is profound. All coffee grows in the tropics, and the altitude at which it grows has a profound effect on the taste of coffee. The tropical belt extends from 30 degrees north latitude to the equatorial regions of the southern mountains that produce the world's truly high-quality Arabica coffee. Central and South America, South Asia and some Pacific islands, and south-central Africa are also the most important coffee-growing areas in the world.

Coffee grown at higher altitude is rich in sour elves, but the concentration of oil is lower than that of low altitude coffee. These two factors make high-altitude coffee more sour, which can be confirmed by the eight major producing areas of Guatemala, Huehuetenago (located on the border with Mexico in the northwest of the country) and Fraijanes (located on the southeastern border with El Salvador), which are significantly sour than the other six regions, including Antigua. In addition, when the altitude increased by 100 meters, the temperature decreased by 0.6 degrees Celsius, and the study found that every 300 meters increased the sucrose content of coffee beans by 10%. In principle, the higher the content of sour elves and sucrose, the more mellow the coffee. This is because higher altitude, lower temperature and large temperature difference between day and night can slow down the growth rate of coffee and accumulate more nutrients.

Shade trees also help to nurture the sour aroma of coffee, because shade can block the noon sun, so that coffee trees will not be exposed to high temperature, their metabolism will not be too fast, and will help the development of nutrients and aromas. Therefore, in bourbon and Tibica in lower altitude areas, shade trees must be planted to improve the sour taste of coffee. Some producing areas are less than 1,000 meters above sea level, but coffee has an elegant sour taste, such as Kona, Hawaii, because Kona Island is far from the equator at a latitude of about 20 degrees, is subtropical and the sun is not as strong as in the tropics. More importantly, the afternoon wind blew up on the Big Island of Hawaii, giving full play to the effect of shading trees, and thick clouds played a great role in cooling coffee trees and lowering their metabolism. In short, high altitudes (but no frost in winter) and shade trees slow the growth of coffee, giving it plenty of time to develop fragrant elves. This kind of ecological coffee has obvious sweet and sour aromas.

Bean size is positively related to altitude, which is easier to produce full-bodied beans, so some producing areas like to determine the grade of beans by bean size rather than hardness. However, the bean size is related to the variety, and the body shape is not the best rating standard.

The caffeine content of Arabica is positively correlated with the planting altitude, and the caffeine content increases by 10% for every 300 meters. Caffeine in Guatemala's 1,400-meter-high producing area is about 10 percent higher than 1100-meter coffee. On the contrary, chlorogenic acid is inversely proportional to altitude, with each increase of 300 meters, the chlorogenic acid in coffee decreases by 5%, which may be related to the disease-resistant system of coffee; the lower the altitude, the more susceptible to disease, so the higher the chlorogenic acid. Luyuan green is also one of the original culprits of bitter coffee, which explains why the lower the altitude of coffee, the less elegant the sour taste. Coffee trees have the highest content of chlorogenic acid in plants. The chlorogenic acid stored in coffee beans alone accounts for 6 percent of Arabica beans' weight, and more than 10 percent of Arabica beans are thick and strong. The content of chlorogenic acid in coffee trees will increase with the deterioration of the environment, such as high temperature, dryness, and insect pests. The heavier the pressure on plants to survive, the higher the chlorogenic acid will be, but this organic acid is one of the sharp weapons for plants to resist diseases and insect pests. That's interesting. The more neglected the coffee farmers are to take care of the coffee trees, or the more sinister the growing environment, the higher the chlorogenic acid content of the coffee beans, and the more sour and bitter the coffee will be, as if the coffee is also spiritual: "if you don't take care of me carefully, I'll give you bitter coffee!" On the other hand, the carefully planted coffee farm is suitable for soil and water, with a large temperature difference between day and night, foggy and surrounded by shade trees. Such a good Arabica tree makes it grow carefree, and the concentration of chlorogenic acid is relatively low, so it is easy to produce good coffee with sweet and sour and fruity aromas. Therefore, the content of chlorogenic acid can also determine the "regional taste" of coffee, which is particularly important for boutique coffee.

Coffee fans often fall into the myth of coffee-producing countries, thinking that the coffee of a certain country belongs to a category with thick pulp or strong sour taste, or that the beans of a certain country must be soft beans, and so on. It is true that the producing country affects the flavor of coffee, but the more important determinants are latitude, altitude and variety. The closer to the equator, the hotter the climate, the higher the altitude in order to grow extremely hard beans. In the subtropics slightly farther from the equator, the temperature is lower, and the planting altitude may be lower than that in the tropics, and hard beans can be planted or close to very hard beans.