Coffee is dramatically affected by its environment.

The elevation, climate rainfall, soil content, sunlight, and the vegetation surrounding the coffee trees determine the taste and quality of the coffee.

For example:

Antigua and Coban are two types of coffee grown in Guatemala, but the characteristics of the two coffees are completely different due to their environmental conditions. Antigua grows at an elevation of four to five thousand feet in a valley surrounded by active volcanoes. Nature has created its own little micro-climate. The protection of the valley, the rich volcanic soil, and the sunlight all contribute to the highly desirable characteristics of Antigua. It is mild and well balanced (acidity and body are equal).

Now, Coban also grows at an elevation of five thousand feet, but it is covered by a cloud layer 90% of the year. The Caribbean climate is wet, cool and humid. It drizzles most of the year. The soil is a combination of limestone and granite. These conditions produce a wonderfully rich, syrupy-bodied coffee—a coffee very different from the Antigua and is grown only one hundred miles away!