Flavor Characteristics, Origin Region, and Brewing Parameters for Colombia Santa Rita Estate Single-Origin Coffee

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Flavor Characteristics, Growing Regions, and Brewing Parameters for Colombia Santa Rita Estate Single Origin Beans

Main Varieties: 11% Typica, 75% Caturra, 14% Castillo

Due to a special combination of various factors—latitude, altitude, soil, botanical origins of species, and coffee varieties in Colombia's coffee-growing regions, climate patterns created by the dual paths of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, changing topography and light intensity throughout the day, favorable temperature ranges year-round, moderate and well-distributed rainfall, and common cultural practices including selective harvesting and processing involving washing and drying—Colombia provides exceptionally suitable conditions for coffee cultivation. The mild climate and humid air allow for year-round harvesting without seasonal constraints. This is why Colombian coffee maintains such high quality. Colombia's three Cordillera mountain ranges run north-south, extending into the Andes Mountains. Coffee is cultivated along these mountain highlands. The terraced slopes provide diverse climates, making it a harvesting region year-round where different coffee varieties mature at different times. Fortunately, unlike Brazil, Colombia doesn't need to worry about frost damage. Colombia has approximately 2.7 billion documented coffee trees, with 66% grown using modern cultivation methods in plantations and the remainder cultivated in traditional small farms.

Currently, Vietnam's coffee production in Asia has surpassed Colombia. Additionally, Indonesia has developed into the world's fourth-largest coffee-producing country. In 1721, French naval officer Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu overcame numerous hardships to bring the first coffee seedling from Africa to Martinique in Latin America—this marked the beginning of coffee cultivation in Latin America. Because France was under Bourbon dynasty rule at the time, the Arabica coffee cultivated in Latin America acquired another name that remains renowned in the coffee industry today: "Bourbon." Today, Bourbon has become an important branch of Arabica coffee. The overall flavor of Latin American coffee is known for its balance—all coffee flavors can be found in Latin American coffees. The common use of wet processing for green beans is also one of the characteristics of Latin American coffee. The excellent processing results in beans that are larger and more uniform compared to African coffee, with lower defect rates. Colombia is one of the world's largest producers of high-quality coffee—a shining gem in the global coffee landscape and a coffee paradise blessed by God. Arabica coffee is cultivated on steep slopes at altitudes of 800-1,900 meters above sea level, all harvested by hand and processed using the washed method.

Colombia's suitable climate provides a true "natural pasture" for coffee. Colombia's coffee trees are mainly cultivated in the Andes mountain region on steep slopes around 1,300 meters above sea level, where the annual temperature remains approximately 18°C, with annual rainfall between 2,000 to 3,000 mm. The location spans 1°-11°15' North latitude and 72°-78° West longitude, with specific altitude ranges that can exceed 2,000 meters.

Varieties: Catuai, Caturra

Estate: Santa Rita

History of Colombian Coffee Cultivation

The history of coffee cultivation in Colombia can be traced back to the Spanish colonial era in the 16th century. There are several accounts of coffee's history in Colombia:

First Theory: It is said to have been introduced by sea from Haiti in the Caribbean Sea, via El Salvador in Central America.

Second Theory: In 1808, a priest introduced coffee beans to Colombia for the first time from the French Antilles via Venezuela. One version suggests that Colombia's first coffee seeds entered through Santander Province from Venezuela.

Third Theory: The earliest record of coffee cultivation in Colombia appears in Spanish missionary Jose Gumilla's book "The Illustrated Orinoca." He described his experiences during missionary work along both banks of the Meta River in 1730, mentioning local coffee plantations. By 1787, other missionaries had spread coffee to other parts of Colombia.

Pour-over Brewing Parameters for Colombia Santa Rita

15g coffee grounds, medium grind (using Fuji's ghost tooth burr grinder #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g water for 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Wait until the water level drops halfway before continuing to pour slowly until reaching 225g total. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Flavor: Sugarcane, clean, medium body

Colombia: A Coffee Paradise

Located in northwestern South America, Colombia is a beautiful country with a long 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 features beautiful mountains and rivers, pleasant scenery, comfortable climate, spring-like weather year-round, and fresh air. Colombia is rich in natural resources, with coffee, flowers, gold, and emeralds known as the "four treasures." Today, the country is the second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, the world's largest exporter of Arabica coffee beans, and the world's largest exporter of washed coffee beans. Colombian coffee is often described as having a silky smooth texture. Among all coffees, it has the best balance, with a soft, smooth palate that makes it enjoyable anytime. It has earned praise unattainable by other coffees: known as "green gold."

Caturra Variety

Caturra is a natural mutation of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is shorter and more compact than Bourbon. Due to inheriting Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not well-suited for growing conditions there, so it wasn't cultivated on a large scale in Brazil. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South American regions, with countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua extensively cultivating Caturra.

Compared to these botanical characteristics, people are likely more concerned about Caturra's flavor profile. The higher the altitude where Caturra is cultivated, the higher the quality, but correspondingly lower the yield. When lightly roasted, Caturra exhibits prominent acidic aromas and overall brightness. With proper processing, its sweetness can be expressed exceptionally well. However, the coffee body is relatively lower compared to Bourbon, and the cleanliness of the cup is somewhat lacking.

Typically, Caturra produces red cherries, but in extremely rare areas, yellow Caturra exists. For example, Hawaii cultivates very small quantities of yellow Caturra.

Catuai Variety

Catuai is a hybrid coffee variety created through artificial cross-breeding of Caturra and Mundo Novo. Catuai has good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain.

Catuai trees are relatively short. Compared to other coffee trees, Catuai's fruits grow more firmly and are not easy to harvest. The fruits come in both red and yellow varieties. To date, no significant flavor difference has been found between yellow and red fruits. In fact, some cupping participants have discovered that although coffee processed from yellow fruits can have good acidity, the cleanliness of the cup is inferior to that of red fruits.

Catuai was developed in Brazil and is currently also widely cultivated in Central America.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Address: No. 10 Bao'an Front Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City

Contact: 020-38364473

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf Life: 90 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste: Aromatic coffee beans

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: 1,600-2,100 meters

Processing: Washed

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

The main variety of Colombian coffee is Coffea arabica. The plant is a small tree or large shrub, 5-8 meters tall, usually with multiple branches at the base; old branches are grayish-white with swollen nodes, while young branches are hairless and flattened. The leaves are thin and leathery, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 6-14 cm long and 3.5-5 cm wide, with a long gradual apex 10-15 mm long, wedge-shaped or slightly obtuse base, rarely rounded, entire or shallowly wavy margins, hairless on both surfaces, with or without small crypts in the vein axils on the underside; the midrib is prominent on both leaf surfaces, with 7-13 lateral veins on each side; the petiole is 8-15 mm long; stipules are broadly triangular, with conically acuminate or awned tips on upper young branches, often with abrupt tips on old branches, 3-6 mm long. Several cymes are clustered in leaf axils, each with 2-5 flowers, without peduncles or with very short peduncles; the flowers are fragrant, with pedicels 0.5-1 mm long; the bracts are more or less fused at the base, dimorphic, with 2 broadly triangular ones of nearly equal length and width, and 2 lanceolate ones twice as long as wide, leaf-like; the calyx tube is cylindrical, 2.5-3 mm long, with truncate limb or 5 small teeth; the corolla is white, length varying by variety, generally 10-18 mm long, usually 5-lobed at the apex, rarely 4 or 6-lobed, with lobes often longer than the corolla tube, apex usually obtuse; anthers extend beyond the corolla tube, 6-8 mm long; the style is 12-14 mm long, stigma 2-lobed, 3-4 mm long. The mature berry is broadly elliptical, red, 12-16 mm long, 10-12 mm in diameter, with hard membranous exocarp, fleshy mesocarp with sweet taste; the seed is convex on the dorsal surface, flat on the ventral surface, with longitudinal grooves, 8-10 mm long, 5-7 mm in diameter. Flowering period: March-April.

Colombia Santa Rita (Washed, Medium-Dark Roast)

Flavor: Sugarcane, clean, medium body

Santa Rita Estate is located in Colombia's Antioquia Department, using traditional methods to process coffee: hand-picking coffee cherries, then applying traditional washed processing, with the processed beans laid out on racks to sun-dry. The environment surrounding the Andes Mountains provides this coffee-growing region with fertile volcanic soil and uniquely advantageous water resources.

Coffee cultivation also requires sunlight and appropriate shade, with cultivation most suitable in fertile land or volcanic ash soil. Therefore, coffee production areas are widely distributed in South America, Central America, the West Indies, Asia, Africa, Arabia, the South Pacific, and Oceania. Regions like Ethiopia and Tanzania in Africa; Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica in Central and South America; and Vietnam and Indonesia in Southeast Asia are all major coffee-producing areas. In South America, Brazil accounts for 30-50% of world production, while Colombia accounts for 10-20%.

Colombia Regional Profiles

Colombia

Population: 47,073,000

Colombia has well-defined growing regions and the impressive variety of coffees they produce. Whether you're looking for round, heavy coffee body or refreshing, fruity flavors (or something in between), it's most likely a Colombian bean. Colombia is divided by geographical regions, and it's not difficult to find that local coffees share many common characteristics. If you like coffee from one region, you'll likely enjoy coffee from other regions as well. Coffee trees in Colombia have two harvests annually—the main harvest and the secondary harvest, locally called "mitaca."

CAUCA

CAUCA is particularly famous for its coffee cultivation surrounding Inza and the city of Popayán in the Popayán Plateau (Meseta de Popayán). The high altitude provides favorable growing conditions, and its proximity to the equator and surrounding mountains protects coffee from Pacific humidity and southern trade winds. This creates a very stable climate year-round. Additionally, the region's coffee has significant volcanic soil. Historically, there is a single rainy season from October to December each year.

Altitude: 1,700-2,100m

Harvest: March-June (main crop), November-December (mitaca crop)

TOLIMA

TOLIMA was one of the strongholds of Colombia's notorious rebel organization FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) until recently. Tolima has suffered from conflict in recent years, making access difficult. High-quality coffee from this region comes from small farmers cultivating very small micro-plots and exported through cooperatives.

Altitude: 1,200-1,900m

Harvest: March-June (main crop), October-December (mitaca crop)

Varieties: 9% Typica, 74% Caturra, 17% Castillo

NARINO

Some of Colombia's highest-quality coffees grow in Nariño, producing truly stunning and flavor-complex coffees. Cultivating coffee in many of these high-altitude areas is challenging, with coffee trees potentially susceptible to leaf rust disease. However, Nariño is close enough to the equator that the climate remains suitable for coffee tree cultivation. Among Nariño's forty thousand producers, the vast majority are small farmers, each cultivating less than 2 hectares (4.4 acres). Many form associations and organizations to provide mutual support and interact with the FNC. In fact, the average farm size is less than 1 hectare (2.2 acres), with only 37 producers in the region owning more than 5 hectares (11 acres) of land.

Altitude: 1,500-2,300m (4,900-7,500ft)

Harvest: April-June

Varieties: 54% Typica, 29% Caturra, 17% Castillo

HUILA

Huila possesses an excellent combination of soil and geographical advantages for coffee cultivation. Some of the most complex, fruit-forward Colombian coffees come from this region. The area has over seventy thousand coffee growers occupying more than 16,000 hectares (approximately 39,500 acres).

Altitude: 1,250-2,000m

Harvest: September-December (main crop), April-May (mitaca crop)

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473