The Story and Allure of Colombia Santa Rita Washed Specialty Coffee Beans

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Colombia: The Land of Coffee Excellence

Colombia sits in the northwestern corner of South America, a beautiful country with a long, rich history. Indigenous peoples have lived and thrived on this land since ancient times. In 1531 AD it became a Spanish colony, gaining independence in 1819; in 1886 it was renamed to its current name in honor of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the American continent.

With lovely mountains and rivers, charming scenery, spring-like weather year-round, and fresh air, Colombia is rich in natural resources—coffee, flowers, gold, and emeralds are celebrated as the country's "Four Treasures." Today Colombia is the world's second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, the world's largest exporter of Arabica beans, and the largest exporter of washed coffee.

Colombian coffee is often described as silky. Among all coffees its balance is second to none—soft, smooth, and drinkable at any time of day. It has earned praise no other coffee can claim: it is acclaimed as "green gold."

Hand Brewed Colombia Santa Rita

15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji ghost-tooth burr grinder at #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour: 30g of water for a 27-second bloom. Continue pouring to 105g, then pause. Once the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, pour slowly up to 225g total. Skip the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15. Extraction time: 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Address: No. 10 Bao'an Qian Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Contact: 020-38364473
Ingredients: In-house roasted
Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Taste: Mellow and aromatic coffee
Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Colombia
Coffee Type: Colombian coffee
Roast Degree: Medium roast

Colombia Santa Rita Special Reserve

Country: Colombia

Region: Antioquia Department

Altitude: 1600-2100 meters

Processing Method: Washed

Santa Rita Estate lies in Colombia's Antioquia Department, in a micro-producing region next to the Andes Mountains. This premium lot is the work of 9 neighboring farms collaborating together. They still process coffee the traditional way: cherries are hand-picked, given a classic washed process, and the finished beans are laid out on racks to sun-dry. The Andean surroundings bless the region with fertile volcanic soil and singular water resources.

Varieties: Catuai, Caturra

Estate: Santa Rita

The History of Colombian Coffee

Coffee cultivation in Colombia traces back to the Spanish colonial era of the 16th century, and several accounts tell how it got there:

First Account: Coffee was introduced by sea from the Caribbean island of Haiti, via El Salvador in Central America.

Second Account: In 1808, a priest first brought coffee beans to Colombia from the French Antilles through Venezuela; one version holds that Colombia's first coffee seeds entered through the Santander Department from Venezuela.

Third Account: The earliest record of coffee cultivation in Colombia appears in Spanish missionary Jose Gumilla's book "The Illustrated Orinoca," where he describes ministering along the Meta River in 1730 and mentions local coffee plantations. By 1787, other missionaries had spread coffee to other parts of the country.

Flavor Profile

Flavor: Sugarcane, clean, medium body

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Colombia's silky balance wins you over, Brazil is the natural next stop. As the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil offers a huge range of beans with moderate acidity and an excellent balance of sweetness, bitterness, and body—made for medium roasts that pour out nutty aromas, a mellow smooth cup, and a whisper of acidity underneath. They shine as single origin and anchor blends just as well.

For a straightforward taste of the country, FrontStreet Coffee's Pulped Natural Cerrado is the classic: a Red Bourbon lot from the celebrated Cerrado region that, at medium roast, delivers cream, peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut aromas—round, non-acidic, with only a slight bitter edge. It brews happily as pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, or French press. For something more distinctive, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Fazenda Rainha from Mogiana, near southern Minas Gerais, is a rare Yellow Bourbon—genetically a mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit expression—grown on fertile red volcanic soil, showing sugarcane sweetness plus fruit and chocolate notes that no other origin quite matches.

And because Brazil's low acidity and balance stabilize espresso extraction, they appear throughout FrontStreet Coffee's blend lineup: the crema-rich Classic Blend, the nut-forward Premium Blend, the balanced Black Cocoa Blend beloved by baristas, and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend built for cafés. The Brazilian component contributes chocolate and cream aromas, a gentle sweet-sour-bitter harmony, and a consistent profile that keeps shots tasting the same from opening to close.