Single origin simply means that the coffee beans from one region/country only. Since they are sourced from one place only, single origin coffees tend to be available exclusively at certain times of the year, depending on the growing season of the location. As the name implies, single origin coffee beans are from one source. That doesn’t mean they’re from one country, for example Kenya, but one ‘plot’. This means that the beans grown are of the same crop, graded the same, harvested at the same time and washed together.

Why is this a good thing? Getting your beans from a single crop is a celebration within the specialty coffee community as it showcases the purest flavours and most notable profiles.

Some coffee companies will define a single origin being from a the same country. The problem with that is many different countries have different climates depending on where you are, meaning the beans will grow with differently. If we look at Brazil as an example, you could find a micro-plot in a rain forest, or on the side of a mountain with high altitude, both playing vital parts in the production of the green bean.

MORE ABOUT SINGLE ORIGIN BY LIBTA COFFEE :

What single-origin coffees can offer that blends cannot is a snapshot of a particular coffee, from one specific place, at one particular time.  These coffees are created from beans that were all grown together at the same place.  Some roasters also offer “micro-lots” which are coffees that all came from a specific lot (or place) on a farm that may have special characteristics (i.e. sunlight, soil chemistry, precipitation, altitude, etc.) unique from other areas of the same farm.

Brewing single-origin coffees highlights the unique characteristics of specific varietals, farms, soils, climates, etc.  Single-origin coffees can be amazing but they can also lack the approachability that blends tend to offer.  For example, washed Kenyan coffees tend to be very high in acidity and can exhibit bright notes of grapefruit and currant and savory tomato.  These coffees are renowned as some of the finest coffees available, but to a consumer that has never tasted a coffee like this before, it can be shocking, confusing, and even off-putting.