The World’s Best Coffee-Growing Regions Are Changing

Countries close to the equator are renowned for growing the most delicious coffee on earth. But with surging temperatures across the globe, the zones which are currently ideal for growing coffee may soon shift. Eventually, the regions we typically think of as gold-standard coffee growing regions – including parts of Columbia, Costa Rica and Brazil – may become so ravaged by sweltering temperatures and warm-weather diseases that they may no longer be able to harvest delicious, nutty, bold cups of java.

Coffee plants are about where they grow best. The best crops are from areas with high altitude and mountainous terrain, which have warm days and cold nights. But once-productive coffee plantations in these regions are falling victim to the nasty effects of climate change. The intense heat is shrinking the land best suited to grow coffee.

So where will farmers grow our beloved coffee you ask? Don’t worry, regions expanding North and South of the equator will likely begin to see serious coffee cultivation. At the same time, many regions that currently produce commodity coffee, aka ‘Robusta’ – will start putting resources into producing delicious specialty coffee. This includes regions of Vietnam, India, parts of East Africa and Mexico. Which actually could come as a good thing as there has been an increase of interest in specialty coffee from buyers and exporters looking to increase the production of quality brews there.

But not to worry, coffee is not going to be wiped off the face of the planet by these rising temperatures. It just means we have to shift the regions in which we are making coffee and experiment with new coffee hybrids that are delicious yet resistant to this warm weather.