Ceylon Coffee – 锡兰咖啡

Known best for Ceylon tea, Sri Lanka has rich soil that’s great for growing coffee. Production is split nearly 50/50 between Arabica and Robusta.

THE UNIQUE FLAVOUR PROFILE OF CEYLON COFFEE

Sri Lanka’s highland terroir gives a distinct flavour profile to Ceylon Coffee with remarkably unique notes and complex characteristics. Even roughly within the same terroir, subtle variations in the climate and soils and elevation produce subtle variations in the flavour of Ceylon Coffee.

The four main coffee types are Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica and all four of them boast distinct taste profiles. In Sri Lanka, Arabica and Robusta coffees are cultivated in the main, that’s, on a commercially important scale.

Of these, Arabica coffee beans are considered higher quality beans and produce a velvety smooth coffee with faint notes of almond. Compared to the Arabica beans, Robusta beans have double the amount of caffeine in the former, which makes them an excellent choice for a real boost with a harsher flavour. The Robusta beans also have a smooth texture with a slight note of chocolate to them, which renders them a perfect coffee to take with milk and sugar (perhaps even as an iced coffee). Whole bean coffee is exported from Sri Lanka both as raw beans and artisan roast beans.

CEYLON COFFEE IN THE GLOBAL SPECIALTY COFFEE MARKET

This specialty coffee market is dominated by Arabica coffee. Single-origin, smallholder cultivated, high elevation grown, washed, honey or naturally processed specialty coffees are loved by coffee aficionados. To determine whether a given sample of coffee is an official specialty coffee, it must be analyzed and tasted the same way as wine or tea. This analysis is called a “sensory analysis” or “coffee cupping” and if it scores above 82 points are specialty coffees. Internationally cupped Sri Lankan coffees from different local roasteries have scored above 86 points with chocolatey, nutty and berry flavor notes, which tells on the stellar quality of Ceylon Coffee.