The Best Coffee Beans In The World

So, you’re looking for the best coffee beans your money can buy. If you read my primer on the effects of coffee, you already know coffee can be very good for you. It has some pretty cool effects:

It can supercharge your workouts.

It keeps being linked to protection from a wide range of diseases.

It can boost your cognitive abilities and make you more productive.

It contains a colossal amount of polyphenols and other antioxidants.

It tastes great.

But, to get all its delicious benefits without its drawbacks, you’ll want to buy coffee beans of good quality. By that, I mean beans with as little risk of mold and toxins — mainly Ochratoxin A (OTA) — as possible.

OTA is an organic toxin with carcinogenic properties. It is very dangerous to the kidneys, and is even associated with hormonal problems and heart disease. The toxin is formed by a mold often present on pre-roasted coffee beans. The mold dies during the roasting process, but the toxins do not, which is why we want to ensure our beans were uncontaminated before the roast.

Here’s how we do that.

How to Choose the Best Coffee Beans

• Opt for coffee from a high-elevation place (like Guatemala), where it’s not easy for mold to grow.

• Choose single-origin instead of a blend. Because if some of the mixed beans are bad, they’ll contaminate the rest of the blend. Single-origin significantly reduces your chance of mold and toxins.

• Wet-processed makes for the best coffee beans. This ensures little time for mold to grow.

• Mechanical drying is the fastest way to get the beans down to low humidity levels where mold can’t grow. Avoid beans that were sun (“naturally”) dried.

• Beans that have been tested for histamine and mold are optimal.

Most of the time — but not always — we’re going to be talking about arabica beans from Central America. Have you ever been to Central America? It’s an awesome place, and you should consider visiting even if only for the coffee.

Some of the best coffee beans in the world come from there, mainly because of its high-elevation farms, quality control, and common use of wet-process.

But wait a sec, Regev! What’s wrong with robusta beans?

Robustas are most often used to produce cheap commercial coffee. They rarely go through the wet-process. However, if you find single-origin, wet-processed, mechanically-dried robustas, by all mean try them.

The Best Coffee Beans In The World

(Well, at least the online world)

The list you’re about to read is not necessarily the best tasting coffee beans. Rather, the list is supposed to provide you with coffee that meets the above criteria. If it’s on the list, chances are it’s some of the world’s best coffee beans when it comes to quality.

I have personally tasted each of the coffee from the list below, on Turkish and Ethiopian styles (boiled), Espresso, and the Aeropress. If they made it to the list, it means they not only stand to the rigorous criteria above, but also taste great. Without further ado, here’s the best coffee beans to buy online:

To be continued…

[Waiting for coffee bean review samples to arrive]