Colombia Santa Rita Washed Specialty Coffee Beans: Grading, Pricing, Raw Beans and Roast Level

Flavor Profile

Sugarcane, clean, medium body.

Colombia: The Land of Coffee Excellence

Located in northwestern South America, Colombia is a beautiful country with a rich history. Indigenous peoples have thrived on this land since ancient times. It became a Spanish colony in 1531 and gained independence in 1819; in 1886 it adopted its current name to honor Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the American continent. Colombia boasts magnificent mountains, beautiful scenery, pleasant weather, spring-like seasons year-round, and fresh air. It is rich in natural resources, with coffee, flowers, gold, and emeralds known as the "four treasures." Today Colombia ranks as the second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, the world's largest exporter of Arabica coffee beans, and the largest exporter of washed coffee beans. Colombian coffee is often described as having a silky-smooth texture. Among all coffees it offers the best balance, with a soft, smooth mouthfeel that makes it perfect at any time of day—which is why it has earned the unmatched praise of being called "green gold."

Caturra: A Natural Bourbon Variation

Caturra is a natural variation of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is shorter and smaller than Bourbon. Because of its Bourbon heritage it has relatively weak disease resistance, but it yields more than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not well suited to growing there and was never cultivated on a large scale in Brazil; instead it became widely popular in Central and South America, with countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua cultivating it extensively.

Caturra Flavor Characteristics

Botanical details aside, Caturra's flavor matters more to most drinkers. The higher the altitude where it is grown, the better the quality, but correspondingly the lower the yield. Lightly roasted, Caturra shows distinct acidic aromas and overall brightness. With proper processing, its sweetness can be expressed exceptionally well. Its body, however, is relatively low compared to Bourbon, and the cleanliness of the mouthfeel is somewhat lacking.

Caturra usually produces red cherries, but in extremely rare regions yellow Caturra exists—Hawaii, for example, grows very small quantities of it.

Catuai: A Hybrid Variety

Catuai is an artificial hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo, with good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain.

The Catuai plant is relatively short. Compared with other coffee trees, Catuai's fruit grows more firmly and is harder to pick. The fruit comes in red and yellow varieties. To date no superior flavor has been found in the yellow fruit compared with the red; some cuppers have found that although coffee processed from certain yellow fruits has good acidity, the cleanliness of the mouthfeel is inferior to red fruit.

Catuai was developed in Brazil and is now also widely grown in Central America.

Brewing Method: Pour-over Colombia Santa Rita

15 g of grounds, medium grind (Fuji Royal hand grinder with ghost-tooth burrs at setting 4), a V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30 g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105 g and pause. Wait until the water level drops to halfway, then slowly pour until reaching 225 g. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Colombia Santa Rita Special Reserve

Country: Colombia
Region: Antioquia Department
Altitude: 1,600-2,100 meters
Processing Method: Washed

Santa Rita Estate is located in Colombia's Antioquia Department, in a micro-region adjacent to the Andes Mountains. This premium coffee is produced through the collaboration of 9 nearby farms. Those 9 farms still use traditional methods: hand-picking the cherries, then applying traditional washed processing, with the processed beans laid out on racks to sun-dry. The environment around the Andes provides this coffee-growing region with fertile volcanic soil and unique water resources.

Varieties: Catuai, Caturra
Estate: Santa Rita

The History of Colombian Coffee

Coffee cultivation in Colombia can be traced back to the Spanish colonial era of the 16th century. Several accounts describe how coffee arrived:

First account: it is said to have been introduced by water routes from Haiti in the Caribbean, via El Salvador in Central America.

Second account: in 1808 a priest first introduced coffee beans to Colombia from the French Antilles via Venezuela; one version holds that Colombia's first coffee seeds entered through Santander Province from Venezuela.

Third account: the earliest record of coffee cultivation in Colombia appears in Spanish missionary Jose Gumilla's book The Illustrated Orinoca, in which he described his experiences preaching along the banks of the Meta River in 1730 and mentioned local coffee plantations. By 1787 other missionaries had spread coffee to other parts of Colombia.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Colombian coffee is the benchmark for balance—clean, sweet, and smooth—so the bean to pair with it is one that shares that easy, comforting character. FrontStreet's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic Brazilian single origin, medium roasted, bringing creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut in a round, low-acid cup with just a gentle hint of bitterness. It is forgiving as pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, or French press, and it makes an effortless daily coffee.

If you want a touch more fruit and sweetness, FrontStreet's Brazil Queen Estate is a rare Yellow Bourbon grown in Mogiana on fertile red volcanic soil, with sugarcane sweetness alongside fruit and chocolate. Between the two, you get Brazil's signature low acidity and full body—the perfect counterpoint when you want something rounder than a bright Colombian washed lot.