What is the best type of coffee, one with a lot of flavor. Brazilian, Cuban, Columbian, Costa Rican???!
Answers: Which one has the best tasting??? I am opening a cafe shop and would like to know so we can serve the best quality there is.
If you're opening a shop, you'd do well to have a variety of choices for the discerning customer.
All the areas you named have good coffees, though Columbia and Costa Rica, with their mountains, are better known for high quality coffee.
The idea is not the country, it's the type of bean and location of the plantation. Choose Arabica over Robusta (Yeah, I know it's more expensive) and choose stuff that was grown in altitude.
I agree 100% with the person who mentioned Ethiopian coffees. Sidamo and Harrar are the main growing areas for fine coffee there. You have heard of it, even if you don't know... those coffees used to come to Europe through the Yemeni port at Moka.
I recommend buying a variety of coffees rather than relying on a single source. The important thing is to buy top quality (and fair trade will buy some brownie points with your customers).
The other critical factor is who and how is your coffee going to get roasted. The roasting process impacts coffee quality as much as bean source.
To address your specific question, I have had great coffee from Columbia, Brazil, Jamaica, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Hawaii....etc.
As a side note, avoid buying robusto beans. They are cheaper and of a lower quality. Stick with Arabica
Cuban is really good with about 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar YUMMY
I'm a huge fan of Ethiopian coffee. It's very smooth compared to most of the other coffees, and usually not as heavily roasted..but still has a lot of flavour!
You can't go wrong with Columbian. Although, I find that coffee from Sumatra is really good if you like a strong flavor.
I think that estate grown Kona coffee is THE best in the world. It may not be cost effective for your cafe to serve it exclusively however.