Coffee. Who Makes It Best?

I drink a lot of Coffee. It's always black coffee - no sugar or milk, so it's either filtered coffee, Espresso, Americano or "Turkish" coffee.

Did you know that coffee is one of the most profitable commodities on earth? Sadly, it's also one of the most unfairly traded crops. Most coffee farmers are dirt poor because they can't make much from their crop. Everybody makes a killing from coffee except the farmer; the coffee shop, the commodities traders in the city, the exporters, the governments and so on. Where posible I try to drink Fairtrade coffee, but it's not always available.

I'm lucky to have many choices of cafés around me that serve awesome coffee. London is also full of excellent choices. Even some of our chain coffee shops are good, unlike in other cities.

My favourite local café serves some good, good stuff

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Having said that, the best cups of coffee I've ever had have been outside the UK; in Egypt, Senegal, Spain and Italy.

In Italy and Spain, there's no such thing as an Americano. Back in the day, people would look at me kind of confused when I ordered that on mainland Europe. Nowadays, with the spread of Starbucks on the continent, everyone knows what it is. When I order one these days, they usually smile and serve me an espresso instead, or some kind of in-between super concentrated coffee.

Mainland European style coffee, now in London

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In Egypt, and similarly in Senegal, they're not afraid of flavour. The traditional coffees, not the ones from the shops that emulate western styles, always have a kind of spice to them. You can almost taste the freshness of the beans, as though they were not roasted too dry, as is the case in Italy and Spain. It's usually more bitter, but with a sweet aftertaste.

I asked on Twitter what people like, and I got responses pointing to Brazil. That was a little surprising. I knew about Colombian coffee, but not Brazilian. Apparently Jamaican coffee is really good too. Who knew?

From my experience, the best coffee I've had so far would be "Nubian" Coffee in Egypt.. It's similar in preparation to Ethiopian coffee and it tastes divine!

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CHAIN COFFEE SHOPS

Chain coffee shops, especially Starbucks, get a bad rep amongst coffee aficionados. Since I'm not an aficionado per se, more of an addict, I do sometimes go to Starbucks if it's my only option.

Starbucks coffee actually isn't that bad. I think it's just fashionable to hate on them because they're so corporate. Especially if it's just the Americano, how much worse can it be? Having said that, the Americano at Costa is noticeably better than at Starbucks. I don't know why, it just tastes much better.

Of all the well known chains, I'd rate Costa as the best with a marginal victory over Nero. However there is a smaller chain called "Nude" which serves really good coffee.

Actually, now that I think of it, I'm not so sure it s a chain. I've seen a number of shops here and there, but never outside London.

If I must visit a chain coffee shop, I almost always pick McDonalds, shocking as that may sound. The Americano there is the same as in Starbucks, but at less than half the price! There's also Pret with cheap, semi-decent (organic) coffee.

Like I said in the beginning though, these are rare occasions. There are so many cafés in London, and some of the very best are in my neighbourhood.

So here is the same question I asked on Twitter: Which country has the best coffee?

Thanks for reading,

Adé