Best Coffees of Asia, India and the Pacific

Coffee Connoisseurs know that some of the world's finest coffees are the Asian, Indian and Pacific Coffees known for their smooth tastes and mild acidity. The coffees tend to have a full body with notable earthy elements and a fairly dry aftertaste.

Bali Coffee

Grown in the central highlands, Bali coffee is one of the newer premium gourmet coffees on the market. It is usually wet processed but there are some dry processed Bali coffees such as the light-roasted Roasterie Tri Hit Karana known for its distinct fermentation during the drying creating notes of cherry brandy.

In addition there are some dry-processed organic coffees from Bali that, when given a medium roast, exhibit tones of dark chocolate and sometimes pungent herby notes.

The Japanese love to buy up the Bali coffee appreciating the processing methods as well as the notable translucency in the emerald-colored coffee beans.

Civet Coffee

What can one say about Civet coffee? Aside from its unique origin, one can simply discuss its distinctive smooth taste and acidity along with a high aroma, often very sweet and somewhat full with a most distinctive natural lack of bitterness. Due to the lack of bitterness, the coffee beans are only only lightly roasted in order to preserve the Civet coffee's complex flavors.

Okay now we can mention that Civet coffee come from coffee beans excreted from an animal called the Civet. It's grown and harvested from Civets in Sulawesi, Sumatra, Java, Bali, and East Timor. It's called Kopi Luwak in Indonesia and Kape Alamid in the Philippines. Sometimes selling for more than $600 per pound, it is one of the world's most expensive coffees.

Hawaii Coffee

Grown on the different Hawaiian Islands with varying results in quality, the premium coffee is Kona Coffee with larger plantations producing coffee on Kauai and Molokai. Kona coffee is known for its rich taste and mild, delicate yet complex aroma, clean and very well-balanced with a medium body and bright acidity followed by a nice aftertaste.

India Coffee

A fine India coffee displays qualities similar to Indonesian coffees such as the renowned Java Arabica. These qualities include a full body with an acidity similar to a fine Guatemala Coffee.

Notable are the hints of tropical fruits as well as notes of pepper, clove and cardamom as well as nutmeg. Notable coffees include the India Monsooned Malabar Coffee, Monsooned Mysore Coffee and India Mysore Coffee.

Indonesia Coffee

Grown in Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Java Arabica, Indonesia coffee is known for its fully body and rich taste with a gentle yet vibrant acidity, and a lingering finish.

Indonesian Java Arabica coffee is one of the two key components of Mocha-Java along with Yemen Mocha coffee.

Jamaica Coffee

Home of the renowned Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaica is known for its gourmet coffee. Blue Mountain coffee is wet processed and known for its well-balanced and silky smooth quality.

The body is full and the taste mild and sweet, even creamy, often exhibiting notes of chocolate and with a vibrant smooth acidity and very little bitterness. Also notable are the Blue Mountain peaberry coffee beans.

Mocha Java Coffee

This traditional coffee blend is said to be the world's oldest blend and includes Arabian (Yemen) Mocha coffee and Indonesian Java Arabica coffee. The two coffees have complementary characteristics that go well together.

The Yemen Mocha provides a lively intensity and pleasant wildness, which complements the bright, clean smoothness of the Java, one of the most popular Indonesian coffees.

Sometimes other coffees such as an Ethiopian Harrar or another bright (high acidity) coffee is used in the blend instead of the Mocha.

Most New Guinea coffee is grown on the eastern half of the island which is known as Papua New Guinea. Fine New Guinea coffees include Arona and Sigri which display a modest and quite low-toned richness, often a bit earthy, and a low acidity yet not as aromatic as a fine Sulawesi Toraja but often fruitier than Sulawesi coffee.

Fine New Guinea coffees include New Guinea Sigri Coffee, New Guinea Arona Coffee, and New Guinea Kimel Coffee.

Timor Coffee

Known for its expansive taste, Timor coffee has a medium to full body and an acidity that is quite vibrant though low-toned.

Vietnam Coffee

Second only to Brazil in coffee production, Vietnam now produces more coffee than Colombia by a significant margin. When it comes to producing premium gourmet coffee, however, Vietnam is not  remarkable.