Which Countries Produce the Most Coffee?

Brazil Still Top Coffee Producing Country - Vietnam Moves Into Second Place

A few years back Vietnam slid into second place among the world's coffee producing countries behind only Brazil, and finally beating out Colombian.

Meanwhile Brazil's overall market share has been slowly increasing its profits have dipped. More than five million people in Brazil are employed in growing and harvesting the country's three billion coffee plants producing more than 2.5 million metric tons of coffee each year.

Vietnam now grows about eighteen of the world's coffee while Colombia only grows about eight percent. Colombia's drop in coffee exports was partly due to economic factors in 2009 such as the drop in the value of the peso along with a bad year of coffee harvesting due to inclement weather.

The world's second tier of large coffee producers includes Indonesia in fourth place, Ethiopia in fifth, and India in sixth. Close on India's heels are Mexico and Guatemala.

Rounding out the world's top ten coffee producers are Honduras and Peru, each of which produces only about one-tenth of the amount of coffee grown in Brazil each year.

Next on the list of top world coffee producers are Uganda, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. All three of these countries are also becoming more respected in the gourmet coffee market with such distinctive coffee beans as the Uganda Bugishu, Costa Rica San Marcos De Tarrazu, and Nicaragua Segovia.

In fourteenth place is the Ivory Coast which produces about 5% of what Brazil produces each year, as does El Salvador in fifteenth place.

Producing only about one-thirtieth of Brazil's annual coffee output is Papua New Guinea which is also gaining strength in the specialty coffee market with its well-respected New Guinea Arona Coffee.
The seventeenth through twentieth top producers are Ecuador, Thailand, Venezuela, and Tanzania which earns a premium price for its Tanzania Peaberry beans.

Last but not least among the top twenty-four coffee producers in the world are Cameroon, Kenya, Philippines, and Madagascar.

This highlights the fact that the top producers don't necessarily produce the finest coffees, since Kenya coffee and in particular Kenya AA grade coffee is considered by many to be one of the finest coffees in the world.

And so that is the answer to the question: Which countries produce the most coffee?

Espresso Brewing and Coffee Brewing Tips

For tips on brewing the perfect cup of coffee see the Espresso Coffee Guides section on coffee brewing.

Ssee Espresso Drink Recipes and the How to make a Latte for some great tips. Also provided are instructions on Pulling A Perfect Espresso Shot.

For the history of espresso and coffee see World's Best History of Coffee, and for a complete list of coffee terminology with detailed definitions see the Espresso Coffee Guides Coffee Terms.