Cambodia Grows World-Class Coffee (But Cambodians Can't Afford It)

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]I need to tell you about something I discovered in Cambodia that broke my heart a little. World-class coffee growing right here. Second only to the best Brazilian beans I've tasted in 20 years. But here's the thing. Most Cambodians will never taste it. Global coffee is in crisis. High altitude Arabica plantations dying everywhere.

[00:00:19]Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia all struggling. Climate change is killing the coffee belt. The world is about to have a serious coffee problem. And Cambodia quietly growing something exceptional in the highlands that could solve part of that problem. So I bought a kilo pre-roasted from the northern highlands. I've got my proper setup here. Espresso machine, burr grinder. I can make coffee the way it deserves to be made. First sip, a journey through Cambodia. The rise on the tongue, layer after layer, complexity you only get from exceptional terroir. That's the soil, the altitude, the geography. You can taste the highlands in these beans.

[00:00:56]Mid palate, stunning. Like walking through those coffee fields. This is what robusta can be when it's grown right, at altitude, with care. The roasting needs work. That beautiful journey up the palate stops too soon, no finish. But that's technique, not the bean. The bean is world-class. Here's what bothers me. This coffee will sell in specialty shops for $3.50, $4 a cup.

[00:01:17]In London, probably £5. And the people growing it, most of them drink $1 instant coffee because that's what they can afford. Cambodians are producing one of the finest coffees in the world and most will never experience it. The flag of Cambodia on your tongue. A party in your mouth. And it's being exported before Cambodians get to celebrate their own product. Someone needs to figure out how to let Cambodian coffee drinkers taste what their own country is producing. Not the export grade, not the premium price. Just taste what you're growing. Understand that this is world-class. While the world loses coffee to climate change, Cambodia is sitting on something extraordinary. The farmers are doing brilliant work. They deserve to taste the result of that work. This could be Cambodia's next export success, but first Cambodians should get to celebrate it themselves.