What is the difference between high altitude coffee beans and low altitude coffee beans?

High altitude and low altitude coffee beans

Arabica is deeply loved by Chinese people with a short history of coffee contact because of its strong fruity aroma. it was introduced to China by missionaries in the 19th century and widely planted in Panzhihua, Sichuan, and the dry-hot valley of the Jinsha River above 1000 meters in western Yunnan. The sunshine in this area lasts for a long time and there is a great temperature difference between day and night. The local people solve the problem of insufficient seasonal rainfall by diverting water up the mountain, resulting in a unique aroma of "Chinese coffee". Among them, Banpo coffee grown in Arabica in Panzhihua, Sichuan is the most. Compared with Yunnan and Hainan, Panzhihua in the dry-hot valley has longer sunshine, higher altitude, greater temperature difference, good light quality and more virgin land. it is a rare and most suitable area for growing Arabica coffee. Banpo coffee farmers take advantage of this advantage to adopt unique planting and processing technology: first, "do not land on the ground": from collecting coffee beans to processing into finished products, coffee has been kept free from soil and other sundries to ensure its taste and quality; second, "graded collection": since coffee beans are not uniform and mature, coffee beans of the same level are collected centrally rather than mixed together. Such as manual operation, the use of a large number of labor force to collect, classify and process. The coffee here is rich in aroma, balanced between sour and bitter, and fruity. It is very popular with consumers and foreign coffee beverage giants.

Altitude will directly affect the appearance of coffee beans. When you take a closer look at raw coffee beans, you will find that the size and density of each kind of coffee are different. Are the coffee beans in your hand small and dense? Is the gap in the middle of the bean tightly closed or open? Is the gap straight or curved? Is the color of coffee beans close to jade, light green or blue? The shape characteristics of the bean body can directly reflect the growth altitude of coffee beans.

The best quality coffee beans are usually strong and grow at an altitude of more than 4500 meters. The growth of these coffee beans is very slow, so the density of the beans is very high, and the gap in the middle of the beans should be curved. In contrast, coffee beans grown at low elevations usually have a lower density and slightly open gaps in the middle. As for the color of the bean, the growing environment of the coffee bean and the processing technology of the raw bean will affect the color of the coffee bean. If the same kind of coffee beans produced on the same plantation are treated differently, for example, one batch is washed with water and the other batch is treated with honey, then the colors of the two batches of beans will be very different. Generally speaking, the density of bean body is the most powerful basis for judging the altitude of coffee bean growth. In short, the higher the altitude of coffee bean growth, the better the taste. Coffee beans grown at high elevations have pleasant acidity, rich aroma and rich taste, which everyone likes; on the contrary, coffee grown at low elevations has almost no sour taste, single taste and plain taste. That's why baristas always emphasize altitude. If your barista tells you that your coffee grows on a plateau 5200 meters above sea level, then this cup of coffee is definitely worth savoring.

Although altitude is only one of the many factors to measure the quality of coffee, it is definitely the most important one. The next time you go to the coffee shop, please ask the barista to tell you the origin of the coffee in the cup, which will not only enrich your coffee knowledge, but also improve your overall coffee experience.