Coffee is an amazingly complex beverage. In every cup of coffee, there are over 2,000 chemicals that contribute to the flavor and aroma. Compare that to a glass of wine, which comprises about 200 flavor components. So there is a huge range of flavor potential from bean to bean.

The premise behind drinking single-origin coffee is simple: let's see what coffee from one farm, at one elevation, with one varietal of coffee plant, and one processing method tastes like. Let's drink two origins side by side and compare what we get out of one with what we note from the other. That this becomes a wine tasting of sorts, without the downer.

There are many things that you will notice when you drink single-origin coffee. You'll realize that Columbians taste different than Ethiopians or Sumatrans. But you'll also notice that not all coffees from one growing nation are created equal. You'll notice that within a country, coffees taste different by region. A Guatemalan Huehuetenango will be different than a Patzun even though they are in the same nation. At Joe By Schmo, you'll see on a product page the coffee is titled by country then region, then a hyphen and then the farm name. For example one of our Tanzania coffees is titled "Tanzania Mbeya - Shiwanda Peaberry".

Another distinction affecting taste is the varietal. Most of our Ethiopians are labeled Heirloom, since that country is the birthplace of the Coffea Arabica species, there is a huge genetic variation of plants. Much like an heirloom tomato plant in your garden, an heirloom coffee has a robust genetic make-up which affects its taste. From Ethiopia to Arabia, to the European colonies in the Americas and Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, coffee was propagated through one main varietal, the Bourbon. This varietal offers a greater natural sweetness than many other varietals. On our product pages and category pages, you can note which varietal your beans are.

Also, processing method affects flavor. Coffee grows as a fruit; the bean is the seed inside the fruit. Often the fruit is called a cherry. At harvest time, growers pick the ripened cherries of their farm and begin to process them to remove the bean from the center of the fruit. The traditional processing method used throughout most of the world is wet processing. This involves running the cherries through a de-pulping machine which removed the skin and much of the fruit, then washing the remaining seed and mucilage in a fermentation tank to remove the remaining fruit. They seeds are then washed clean and dried on cement patios for several days. Nearly all coffees we purchase are wet processed.

Another processing method gaining traction in the specialty market is dry processed. With this method, the fruits are dried on raised beds until the fruit shrivels like a raisin. In certain dry regions, the heat withers the fruit to the point that it is so brittle it rubs right off the seeds when raked. The fermentation of the fruit imparts a sweet and wild flavor to the beans. You can see that the processing method would affect the flavor in your cup.

Now back to the original question... why does Joe By Schmo offer single-origin coffees? We don't want you to just have a pleasurable cup of coffee. We also want you to have a deeper appreciation for the wide spectrum of what coffee can be. Single-origin offers you the opportunity to note all the variations within coffee, while always having a great cup. It doesn't have to taste the same every time for it to be good. If you ate the same thing for supper every night, you'd get bored. But maybe you are bored of coffee because you're drinking the same thing each time. With single-origin, it's a different experience from each farm.

When you pick up a tub-o-coffee from the grocery market, they are buying various coffees from all over the world and blending them so that the end result tastes the same in April of 2017 and November of 2018 and August of 1972. Though the particular beans are different throughout the year and from year to year, the goal the blender has is to offer you the same taste every time you go to them. Even if you pick up a whole bean, vacuum-sealed bag of 100% Colombian, the blender is trying to present you with the same flavor profile every time you brew.

Many in the specialty coffee industry are turning to single-origin as a way to introduce consumers to the fantastic range within the world of coffee. It helps coffee drinkers to realize and appreciate that great coffee can be many things. It helps farmers since they are more than 0.5% of some conglomerate blend. It is our hope at Joe By Schmo Coffee Company that you will sample coffees from nations and regions that you've not even every heard of. Let you palate be glad!