Vietnam is the world's #2 coffee producer???

[grtrx]

I did not know that... mostly Robusta... Ivory Coast is #3... what's the world coming too?

[Herf]

They need a lot of coffee to make all the Maxwell House and Folgers most of America drinks. It doesn't need to be very good coffee.

[Mad Dawg]

Originally Posted by Herf

They need a lot of coffee to make all the Maxwell House and Folgers most of America drinks. It doesn't need to be very good coffee.

That's it right there.

[Briandg]

robusta and arabica. You look at the packaging of the stuff sold here and it all claims to be arabica, from western hemisphere sources, pretty much.

Robusta would only be put in the worst of all, and probably exported to places like china and other third world toilets. It may even be exported to coffee producing countries, who then send their own products here for cash, buying crap coffee for their own use.

Sorta like cuba. if they could sell all cuban tobacco for a few bucks an ounce, they'd be smoking indonesian tobacco there in cuba.

[grtrx]

The place I've been sourcing cofee from notes on their tasting of a columbian coffee that columbia slipped to #3 behind vietnam, but they will not be selling viet coffee because it is robusta

ivory coast is actually #3 according to this, and they too do robusta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...fee_production

pretty cool map...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ca...sta_arabic.svg

I have a hard time believing mcdonalds old coffee was arabica beans

[fvfanmc]

Well, that explains the Vietnam War. Over coffee.

[Mad Dawg]

Originally Posted by Briandg

robusta and arabica. You look at the packaging of the stuff sold here and it all claims to be arabica, from western hemisphere sources, pretty much.

Robusta would only be put in the worst of all, and probably exported to places like china and other third world toilets. It may even be exported to coffee producing countries, who then send their own products here for cash, buying crap coffee for their own use.

I'd be willing to bet that a hell of a lot of robusta is imported into the USofA. It's higher in caffeine than arabica, a hell of a lot of stuff that gets pre-staled and canned doesn't even claim to be "100% arabica," and most Americans still view coffee primarily as a caffeine-delivery vehicle.

But even "100% arabica" doesn't mean you aren't getting the dregs, the worst of the crops from Colombia and other Latin American countries. I've had a lot of arabica that I thought was pretty awful...

[Briandg]

Agreed, doug. You know that anything not listed as 100% arabica is going to have a ton of robusta in it. There are still things available for a couple bucks a pound. No chance of it being arabica.

I've read that most espresso is robusta, which led me to believe that a lot of french and italian roast, super dark stuff, is robusta.

And yes, arabica ain't no guarantee. you look at tomatoes at the cheap supermarkets, and they ask yourself "if these are the best available, what in hell is in that can of juice?"

Yep, if starbucks is roasting the "best available," what in hell is going into the walmart brand?

[fvfanmc]

Maxwell House coffee (IMO) has the most chicory.