The expedition files
Coffee lives in the far corners of the world. We searched for it.
From coffee cherries cooked in butter in Ethiopia to coffee-leaf tea in Sumatra and coffee cheese in Finnish Lapland: the places, rituals and lost arts of coffee, gathered from archives, research papers, heritage records and reporting. Every fact links to its source.
- Places
- 79
- Lost arts
- 69
- Sources
- 226
20 places
Africa & Middle East
Grows coffeeBurundiCoffee arrived under Belgian orders in the 1930s; one family washing station has run since 1938.
Grows coffeeCameroonHome of Coffea charrieriana, the first caffeine-free coffee species found in Central Africa.
Grows coffeeCôte d'IvoireOnce the world's third-largest coffee producer, built on robusta from the forest zone.
Grows coffeeDR Congo (Kivu)On Idjwi, farmers once paddled coffee across Lake Kivu by canoe to sell it.
Coffee cultureEritreaA two-hour, three-round coffee ritual, kept going by Eritreans as far away as Flanders.1 lost art
Grows it and drinks it its own wayEthiopiaWild arabica still grows in Kafa's cloud forests, and coffee is roasted, brewed and blessed at home.2 lost arts
Grows coffeeKenyaHome of SL28, picked in 1935 from one drought-hardy tree with roots in Tanzania.
Coffee cultureLebanon & the LevantCoffee boiled three times in a rakweh, cups read for fortunes, and 'white coffee' with no coffee in it.2 lost arts
Grows coffeeMadagascarWinged, leaf-dropping wild coffees, many still being named and many at risk.1 lost art
Coffee cultureOmanQahwa with dates first, halwa before coffee at weddings, and a shaken cup to say 'enough'.
Grows coffeeRwandaAfter 1994, washing stations and co-ops turned a ruined commodity crop into specialty coffee.
Grows coffeeSaint HelenaYemeni coffee on a remote Atlantic island, praised by an exiled Napoleon.1 lost art
Coffee cultureSaudi Arabia & the GulfArabic coffee, poured with the right hand and refused with a shake of the cup.1 lost art
Coffee cultureSenegalCafé Touba: coffee roasted with grains of Selim, tied to a Sufi saint's exile.
Grows coffeeSierra LeoneA coffee once sold in France as 'best Mocha' vanished in 1954 and was found again in 2018.1 lost art
Grows coffeeTanzaniaThe Haya once boiled, smoked and chewed coffee cherries, and growing them needed royal approval.1 lost art
Coffee cultureTürkiyeUNESCO-listed coffee with foam, a glass of water and a fortune in the grounds; once banned by a sultan.1 lost art
Grows coffeeUgandaRobusta grows wild in Uganda's forests and once sealed brotherhood and marriage.1 lost art
Grows it and drinks it its own wayYemenCoffee's first great port, and a husk drink, qishr, that Yemenis drink from mid-morning on.1 lost art
Grows coffeeZimbabweA coffee industry that shrank from about 15,000 tonnes a year to about 500.
22 places
Asia & Pacific
Grows it and drinks it its own wayAustraliaA flat white with a sugar-town origin story, and tiny coffee farms that built the first machine harvester.1 lost art
Grows coffeeChina (Yunnan and Pu'er)In the land of Pu'er tea, a mission churchyard tree started China's coffee.1 lost art
Grows coffeeHawai'i (Kona)For 37 years Kona's schools closed in autumn so children could pick coffee.2 lost arts
Coffee cultureHong KongCoffee and milk tea in one cup, named after a pair of mandarin ducks.1 lost art
Grows it and drinks it its own wayIndiaA smuggled-seed legend, a brass filter in every southern kitchen, and beans aged by the monsoon wind.2 lost arts
Grows it and drinks it its own wayIndonesiaJava gave coffee a nickname, at the cost of a forced-labour system that a Dutch novel exposed.1 lost art
Coffee cultureJapanFrom an 1888 Tokyo salon to the siphon kissaten and a canned coffee in every vending machine.2 lost arts
Grows coffeeLaos (Bolaven Plateau)French-planted coffee on a volcanic plateau that was among the most heavily bombed places of the Vietnam War.
Grows it and drinks it its own wayMalaysiaIpoh's 'white coffee' has nothing to do with white beans: it is a margarine roast from the tin-mining days.
Grows coffeeMyanmarA British-era crop that came back as specialty coffee after the sanctions eased.
Grows coffeeNepalA hermit's seeds from Burma started a hill-farm crop that stayed a curiosity for 40 years.
Grows coffeeOgasawara (Bonin) Islands, JapanTokyo's remote islands kept coffee trees alive through a war that emptied them of people.1 lost art
Grows coffeePapua New GuineaA highland crop grown mostly in village gardens of two hectares or less.
Grows it and drinks it its own wayPhilippinesFor two years the islands supplied the world's coffee, then rust nearly wiped out the boar-named barako.1 lost art
Coffee cultureSingaporeHainanese cooks fried robusta in margarine and sugar, strained it through cloth, and built the kopitiam.2 lost arts
Coffee cultureSouth KoreaFrom a king's palace cup to poets' tearooms and the three-in-one coffee stick.2 lost arts
Grows coffeeTaiwan (Gukeng and Alishan)Colonial-era coffee sent to Japan's imperial homes, dropped in 1972, then revived after an earthquake.
Grows coffeeThailand (northern highlands)A royal scheme to replace opium poppies helped put arabica on the hills around Chiang Mai.1 lost art
Grows coffeeTimor-LesteA chance cross on a 1920s Timor farm protected much of the world's arabica from rust.1 lost art
Grows coffeeVanuatu (Tanna Island)A volcanic island where coffee has survived about 160 years of cyclones.
Grows it and drinks it its own wayVietnamThe No. 2 coffee grower drinks its robusta dripped over condensed milk, or topped with whipped egg.1 lost art
Coffee cultureWest Sumatra (Minangkabau highlands)Barred from their own coffee beans, farmers brewed the leaves instead. They still serve it in coconut shells.1 lost art
22 places
Americas & Caribbean
Coffee cultureAmerican West (USA): Cowboy coffeeBoiled-pot coffee on the cattle trail, made from beans pre-roasted by the Arbuckle brothers.1 lost art
Grows coffeeBoliviaCoffee from the steep Yungas, reached by mountain roads and competing with coca.
Grows it and drinks it its own wayBrazilThe world's biggest grower, built on slavery in the Paraíba valley, and a little cup for every guest.2 lost arts
Grows it and drinks it its own wayColombiaA UNESCO coffee landscape, jeeps called 'mechanical mules', and a fictional farmer who sold a nation's beans.2 lost arts
Grows it and drinks it its own wayCosta RicaCoffee paid for a national theatre and a railway to the Caribbean, and is still brewed through a cloth sock.2 lost arts
Grows it and drinks it its own wayCubaRuined French plantations, ration coffee cut with peas, and the sugar foam called espumita.2 lost arts
Grows it and drinks it its own wayDominican RepublicA country that drinks much of its own coffee, grown mostly by smallholders under shade.
Grows coffeeEcuador and the GalápagosCoffee grown at 300 metres on a volcanic island, first planted on a plantation worked by exiles.1 lost art
Grows coffeeEl SalvadorWhere a dwarf Bourbon mutation turned up on the Pacas family farm, and shade coffee holds much of the forest.
Grows coffeeGuatemalaVolcano-ringed Antigua and frost-free Huehuetenango, built on land taken from indigenous communities.
Grows coffeeHaitiBy 1788 it supplied about half the world's coffee, grown by enslaved people. Its old Typica is now fading.1 lost art
Grows coffeeHondurasCentral America's biggest coffee exporter, home of the region's first coffee denomination of origin.
Grows coffeeJamaicaBlue Mountain coffee, planted from Martinique seedlings in 1728, now mostly shipped to Japan.
Grows coffeeMartiniqueAccording to legend, a French officer shared his water ration to keep a coffee seedling alive on the way.1 lost art
Grows it and drinks it its own wayMexicoCoffee boiled with cinnamon in a clay pot, and German-named estates on the Chiapas border.1 lost art
Coffee cultureNew Orleans (USA)Coffee stretched with roasted chicory root, a wartime habit the city never dropped.1 lost art
Grows coffeeNicaraguaThe northern hills of Matagalpa, where an 1881 uprising pushed back against forced labour on coffee farms.
Grows coffeePanamaAn Ethiopian coffee planted for rust resistance became the most expensive coffee sold at auction.1 lost art
Grows it and drinks it its own wayPeruSome 223,000 families grow Peru's coffee, and Lima cafés serve it as a concentrate with hot water.
Grows coffeePuerto RicoYauco, the 'coffee town' built by Corsican immigrants.2 lost arts
Coffee cultureUpper Midwest (USA): Egg coffeeScandinavian immigrants cracked a whole egg into the grounds, and Lutheran church basements kept the habit.1 lost art
Grows it and drinks it its own wayVenezuelaOnce the world's third-largest coffee exporter, now known for its own coffee-ordering vocabulary.1 lost art
15 places
Europe & Global History
Coffee cultureAustriaVienna's coffee houses, where you pay for the coffee and get the time and space for free.2 lost arts
Coffee cultureBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnian coffee has a name for every hour, including one that politely tells guests to leave.3 lost arts
Coffee cultureFinlandAmong the world's heaviest coffee drinkers, who drop squeaky 'bread cheese' into the cup.2 lost arts
Coffee cultureFranceCafé Procope, where Voltaire and Franklin drank, and the coffee plant gifted to Louis XIV.1 lost art
Coffee cultureGermanyA Dresden housewife's paper filter, cake at four, and a king's army of coffee sniffers.1 lost art
Coffee cultureGreeceTurkish coffee until 1974, then 'Greek coffee': the same cup with a new name.1 lost art
Coffee cultureGreenland (Kingdom of Denmark)Kaffemik: an all-day open house where 50 people or more drop in for coffee and cake.
Coffee cultureIrelandIrish coffee, said to be born at a flying-boat base at Foynes for cold transatlantic passengers.
Coffee cultureItalyPay for two coffees, drink one: Naples' pending coffee, the moka pot and the counter espresso.1 lost art
Coffee cultureNetherlandsAn Amsterdam garden plant that may be an ancestor of coffee across the Americas.
Coffee cultureNorwayKokekaffe: boil the water, add the coffee, wait four minutes, pour.1 lost art
Coffee culturePortugalLisbon's bica, first poured at A Brasileira, a shop that gave away coffee to sell Brazilian beans.
Coffee cultureSpainCoffee set on fire: Valencia's cremaet, child of the carajillo.
Coffee cultureSwedenFika, the coffee break from a country that banned coffee five times.1 lost art
Coffee cultureUnited KingdomA penny for coffee and conversation: London coffee houses that grew into Lloyd's and the Stock Exchange.2 lost arts
Threads through history
How coffee conquered the world
HistoryCoffee bans: Mecca to PrussiaFrom Mecca in 1511 to Prussia's coffee sniffers, rulers kept trying and failing to ban coffee.1 lost art
HistoryHow coffee left YemenSufi night prayers, a guarded port and smuggled plants: how coffee left Yemen for the world.
HistoryThe first coffee housesIstanbul, 1554: two Syrian merchants open coffee houses and a new kind of public room is born.1 lost art
HistoryThe Women's Petition Against Coffee (1674)In 1674 a London pamphlet, signed as women, blamed coffee for idle, chattering husbands.
How we research: every place is built from sources we opened and checked, listed at the bottom of each page and in the bibliography. Legends are labelled as legends, and each page says what we couldn't confirm. We haven't travelled to these places ourselves, and we never claim to have tasted anything. Know a ritual or lost art we're missing? Send it to us.