Indonesia
All discussion about the coffee producing areas of Asia and the Pacific must begin with Indonesia. The third largest coffee producer in the world, Indonesia is made up of 13,000 pacific islands. The country is a study of quality and quantity, as Indonesia is renowned for producing some of the finest Arabica coffee beans in the world. However Indonesia's renowned gourmet coffee beans only makes up a small fraction of the total coffee beans produced in the country. Despite the fact that quality isn't always of the highest caliber for Indonesian coffee beans, Indonesia is still a major source of high quality gourmet coffee beans.
There are three islands in Indonesia that are renowned for the coffee beans that they produce. The most well-known coffee producing island in Indonesia is obviously Java. The largest island in Indonesia, Java is renowned for its gourmet arabica coffee that is wet-processed. Java is also known as producing one of the finest aged coffees in the world in Old Java, in which Javanese coffee beans are stored in a warehouse for two to three years. Another major coffee producing island in Indonesia is Sulawesi, which was once known as Celebes. Located in the Malay peninsula, coffee grown in Sulawesi are processed using the dry method. Renowned for combining sweetness and earthiness, the most famous coffee grown in Sulawesi is Celebes Toraja, which is grown in the mountainous area near the center of the island. Sulawesi coffee is particularly popular in Japan. The third major coffee growing island in Indonesia is Sumatra, which produces two of the world's most famous and high quality coffees - Mandheling and Ankola. Grown in west-central Sumatra, both of these coffees are dry-processed and are renowned for their unique and rich flavor.
India
While Indonesia may be the largest coffee producer in the Asia-Pacific region, it is important not to discount the importance of India in this area's coffee trade. The second largest coffee producer in the region, India is responsible for 25% of Asia's coffee production. Considering how much coffee is valued in Indian culture (you can read more in the article, Indian (Madras) Filter Coffee), it is not surprising to learn that Indian coffee is of high quality. The majority of India's coffee production takes place in the states of Karnatka, Kerala, and Tamilnadu. Indian gourmet coffee has been praised as uniquely combining the acidity of Guatemalan coffee with the full body of Javanese coffee. Additionally, Indian coffee tends to incorporate spicy flavors like nutmeg, clove, pepper, and cardamon to the delight of gourmet coffee lovers.
Vietnam
Vietnam has shot up through the world’s coffee exporting ranks, now second only to Brazil in tons of coffee exported nationally. This rapid rise from utter anonymity in the coffee-producing world to its current exporting prowess has put the country at the center of a global economic controversy, as countries from Colombia to Tanzania blame Vietnam for contributing to the swell of coffee supply and plummeting prices.
Vietnam’s recent ascent in the coffee-growing world is not its first foray in the trade. Before the Vietnam war, it was a “major exporter,” according to Scott Wilson of the Washington Post. French colonists introduced coffee to the country's central highlands region late in the 19th Century, and this proved to be a fertile are for growing coffee. Between the many years of war on its soil and the Communist government has ruled since, Vietnamese coffee exporting prowess became a thing of the past until the early 1980s, when it quietly reentered the global coffee market.
Nearly all coffee grown in Vietnam is of the Robusta variety, one of the two principal species of coffee grown in the world, the other being Arabica. CoffeeResearch.org estimates that Robusta consists of less than one-fourth of the world's coffee production, and describes it as "more robust than the Arabica plants, but produces an inferior tasting beverage with a higher caffeine content." Coffee connoisseurs tend to agree with this assessment of Robusta as a standalone coffee, although allotting that is has its place in certain blends, especially in espresso.