Welcome, Leaderboard Lite players! We're stoked to have you on board, we want you to HAVE FUN and drink good coffee.
We know this game can seem daunting, and that there are a lot of educational resources, but we wanted to remind you that that this is meant to be fun and educational, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself to perform! The Leaderboard hi-score, although sweet, isn’t the point—the point is to learn and improve your sensory skills.
Here's a brief guide on the origins and varietals featured in the current season of Leaderboard, and each origin has some information on what their coffees generally taste like. If a varietal has a unique aspect to look for (whether visually or by taste), we'll have listed it to make it easier for ya!
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S18 LITE: ORIGINS
COLOMBIA is a large South American country and is one of the largest exporters of coffee. We see many grades of Colombian coffee around the world, ranging from the low end of commercial coffee all the way to award winning, competition grade specialty coffee.
- PROCESSES: Colombia typically produces washed coffees historically, however we have been seeing more naturals and honeys from here, and spectacular experimental/innovative processing coming from various regions and producers.
- FLAVOUR PROFILE: Identifying Colombian coffees may be one of the most difficult due to the many regions and profiles that exist as a result of the diverse terroir. We know it’s a tough one, so don’t be so hard on yourself if you can’t identify it! Colombian coffees typically have a balanced acidity and sweetness, and oftentimes tastes fruit-forward and juicy, with lots of milk chocolate in the aftertaste.
COSTA RICA supplies a small portion (less than 1%!) of the world’s coffee supply. There are several regions that we see coffee from more often, including: Central Valley, West Valley, Turrialba, Orosi, and Tarrazú. Regions we see less coffee from include: Guanacaste, Tres Ríos, and Brunca.
- PROCESSES: Costa Rica mainly processes their coffees as washed, or honey (which is more commonly distinguished between white, yellow, red, and black honey). We are also seeing natural process coffees coming out of Costa Rica.
- FLAVOUR PROFILE: Usually a little difficult to identify because of varying flavour profiles, though generally has high sugar sweetness reminding us of brown sugar, caramel, and toffee. When processed as a honey or natural, it typically has tropical notes and citrus notes. As a washed process coffee, it is clean with medium to heavy body, has milk chocolate or dark chocolate notes, high sweetness, and complemented by a bright acidity.
RWANDA is a smaller coffee-producing country, located in East Africa. Rwanda began coffee production closer to the beginning of the 20th century, and currently there are many smallholder farmers who have small coffee farms, bringing their cherry to a local washing station.
- PROCESSES: Most Rwandan coffees grow Bourbon or Red Bourbon, and coffees are generally washed process. We have seen increasingly more natural-processed Rwandans, and the occasional honey-processed coffee.
- FLAVOUR PROFILE: Rwandan coffees, especially washed process coffees, tend to have a heavier and silky mouthfeel, sometimes even having a savoury characteristic to it as well. Coffees can have floral notes which can remind us of many African coffees, and have tropical fruit or berries with sugars that are generally lighter (sugarcane, honey, light brown sugar, light caramel).
TANZANIA is located in East Africa, and uses a similar size-based coffee grading system to Kenya (AA, B, PB, etc.). Although their crops can sometimes be inconsistent, Tanzania may be most known for having a high peaberry production.
- PROCESSES: Most coffees go through a washed process, and most typical varietals grown here include Arusha, Bourbon, Blue Mountain, and Kent. In recent years, we have also seen some new varietals grow well in Tanzania.
- FLAVOUR PROFILE: Tanzanian coffees often taste like black tea and darker fruit, have a medium body, and we only seldomly taste intense florals (like Ethiopian coffees) from here.
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S18 LITE: VARIETALS
BLUE MOUNTAIN, KILIMANJARO, AND LUWIRO are three varietals that grow in Tanzania. Blue Mountain is more known in Jamaica, however, it grows in Tanzania as well and is known for its creamy body. Kilimanjaro and Luwiro are also grown in Tanzania, and these three varietals are commonly grown together. The resulting blend of these three varietals can have a complex flavour profile, usually tasting balanced and sometimes shows citrus and/or floral notes.
PINK BOURBON was originally thought to be a variation on the Bourbon varietal, a hybrid between Yellow and Red Bourbon. However, many suggest that it mostly likely comes from an Ethiopian landrace variety. Pink Bourbon has only recently gained its own label, and is sometimes known as Bourbon/Borbon Rosado, and even Orange Bourbon. This specific varietal (or sub-varietal) is most commonly seen in Colombia (known as Pink Bourbon or Bourbon Rosado), El Salvador (known as Orange Bourbon), Guatemala, Ecuador, and occasionally found in Brazil. Pink Bourbon sometimes has hints of floral notes, and usually has a distinctly bright acidity.
RED BOURBON can sometimes be referred to as BOURBON. Bourbon is one of the main arabica varieties in the world, and is typically differentiated by peak ripeness colour (red, pink/orange, yellow). It was originally introduced in Brazil, and it made its way through Latin America and East Africa. There is a lack of research regarding the many Bourbon-related varieties. From this season’s Leaderboard list of countries, we have seen coffees labelled Bourbon and/or Red Bourbon grown in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Rwanda, and Vietnam.
> https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/varieties/bourbon
SAN ISIDRIO 48 is a Sarchimor varietal (a hybrid of Villa Sarchi and Timor), and is named after a town called San Isidro in Costa Rica. It was developed to be a high yielding varietal that was also resistant to leaf rust, and cupped well too. San Isidro 48 usually has bright acidity and is fruit-forward.
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S18 LITE: SECTION B GUIDE
This season, we asked you to COMPARE COFFEES 02 + 05, to determine WHICH WAS GROWN AT A HIGHER ELEVATION.
Coffees grow at different elevations, and oftentimes it shows through aspects such as bean density, acidity, and origin. For example, Brazilian coffees almost always grow at a lower altitude than Colombian or Ethiopian coffees.
For this question, usually coffee grown at a higher altitude exhibit: higher density, slightly smaller beans (providing other variables are constant), and sometimes slightly higher acidity. In contrast, lower altitude coffees are lower density and more hollow, have larger seeds (generally, and providing other variables are constant as well), and usually more muted or lower acidity. Generally, floral qualities show best at higher elevation coffees.
Good luck!