An Introduction to World-Renowned Colombian Coffee: Origin, Varieties, and Characteristics

Colombian coffee is known for its soft, smooth mouthfeel and excellent balance, earning countless praises. As one of the few single-origin coffees in the world named after a country, it's also considered the gateway for specialty coffee enthusiasts. Many people directly equate "Colombian coffee" with "high quality" and "good taste."

So what makes Colombian coffee so special?

Like many agricultural crops, coffee bean quality is influenced by factors such as variety, climate conditions, altitude, management and harvesting, and post-processing. Coffee is a tropical economic crop suitable for growing in high-altitude areas without frost. For every 100 meters increase in altitude, the temperature drops by 0.6°C. Lower temperatures and oxygen levels cause coffee beans to mature more slowly. In this state, most of the coffee tree's nutrients are supplied to the fruit, resulting in denser beans with harder texture, while also having more time to absorb and store nutrients in the form of sugars. The Andes Mountains within Colombia正好 meet these "stringent" conditions.

The Andes Mountains are located in western Colombia, divided into three continuous high mountains. Each mountain contains fertile soil rich in organic matter, with coffee trees planted on land between 800-2300 meters, enjoying nourishment from sunlight and appropriate shade from clouds. The diverse climate between the mountains means harvest season occurs year-round, with different types of coffee maturing at different times, so we can see busy figures picking coffee in the forests during various seasons. Local growers typically plant coffee trees under shade trees, mostly tall trees or banana trees. Seedlings are provided with shade structures to ensure the cool, humid environment needed for coffee growth. Due to high humidity and small temperature differences in coffee forests, coffee beans mature slowly, which is beneficial for the accumulation of caffeine and aromatic substances, thus resulting in the best coffee quality.

The secret to Colombian coffee's success goes beyond unique geographical environments. Coffee as the local national beverage means growers' love, research, and dedication to coffee is unmatched by other coffee-producing regions. In recent years, with industry development, Colombian coffee, with the addition of manual fruit selection, refined fermentation, and professional cupping knowledge, has shown excellent rich flavors, naturally becoming the preferred choice for coffee friends.

Colombian Specialty Coffee Growing Model

Early Colombian coffee was exported named after local production areas. At that time, even beans of specialty coffee grade appeared as local micro-batches. The scale of small-scale farming in Colombia is not large, and few small farmers have their own processing equipment. Starting in the twentieth century, the local coffee industry flourished, thanks to the establishment of the Federación Nacional de Colombia (FNC, Colombian National Coffee Federation).

FNC is Colombia's only official professional coffee association, representing over 560,000 coffee farmer families, and has become one of the world's largest agricultural non-governmental organizations. FNC promotes the brand image of Colombian coffee globally (Coffee Farmer Uncle Juan and his loyal mule) and supervises the quality of every coffee bean exported from Colombia. Not only does it promote in international markets, but it also invests significant human and material resources in farmer planting, production, management, and sustainable operations within Colombia.

Thanks to FNC's management and guarantees, Colombia now has approximately 875,000 hectares of coffee planted in 590 cities and 14 coffee-growing regions, mostly from small coffee farms. The basic planting area for Colombian small farmers is around 2-3 mu. Small farmers take coffee to community coffee processing stations for washing, or establish green bean processing equipment conditions at home, and finally send it for quality grade testing.

From the map, it can be observed that Colombian coffee production region boundaries are quite distinct, divided into 3 major regions from south to north: northern, central, and southern. The specialty bean production regions in Colombia are mainly in the south, at altitudes above 1500 meters, including San Agustin in Huila, Popayan in Cauca, Nariño, and Tolima. Products from these places have delicate acidity and berry aromas, with caramel notes and full sweetness.

Colombia grows numerous coffee varieties, predominantly traditional Arabica varieties like Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, Pacamara, etc. Of course, there are also some popular rare varieties, such as Gesha, which has appeared in small batches on the market in recent years. FrontStreet Coffee's selected Colombian daily bean is produced in Huila, with the coffee variety being Caturra, widely planted locally, using natural washed processing, and has a balanced sweet, sour, and bitter taste after roasting.

What Processing Methods Are Used for Colombian Coffee?

Traditionally, most Colombian coffee was processed using the washed method. With the development of specialty coffee, many farms have introduced finely processed natural and honey-processed micro-batches, as well as special processing methods. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's very popular Rose Valley Coffee and Flower Moon Night Coffee have rich floral and fruit aromas, making them acceptable even for friends drinking coffee for the first time. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that if you want to taste the natural aroma of Colombian coffee, it's best to choose the natural washed processing method to highlight the clean taste of high-altitude coffee.

Colombian coffee regions have abundant water resources, making them very suitable for washed processing. Family-unit farms are equipped with specialized green bean processors (Ecomill or Eco-Pulper). Farmers pour harvested coffee cherries into them, which not only removes the skin and pulp but also requires very little water to remove most of the mucilage. The parchment beans with small amounts of residual mucilage enter a small pool or container, possibly a tiled pool, for overnight fermentation to loosen the remaining mucilage. The next day, they are washed clean with clear water and finally spread under the sun to dry to the target moisture content.

How Is Colombian Coffee Graded?

Colombian coffee green beans are graded by screen size before export, typically using fixed-size screens with different specifications corresponding to different hole sizes. For example, if the screen mesh is 17 mesh size, beans larger than this size cannot pass through the screen, so larger screen numbers mean larger bean particles remaining on the screen. The most common export grades are UGQ, EP, and Supremo.

Regardless of the green bean screen size grade, as long as green beans are exported, they belong to the Excelso grade. In other words, most Colombian green bean bags exported worldwide today must be marked with the Excelso grade designation. Excelso export grade is currently the most widely used export standard adopted by FNC and is also the optimal grade for Colombian green bean exports. Excelso grade coffee must meet: 500 grams of green beans, size must be above 14 mesh, allowing no more than 5% of green beans between 12 and 14 mesh, with at least 50% of coffee green beans larger than 15 mesh overall. Free from pests, uniform color, no off-flavors, clean flavor. Moisture content cannot exceed 12.5%, and cumulative defects cannot exceed 24 points.

Each farmer reports their number and enters green bean information, facilitating future green bean traceability. Colombian exported green bean names typically follow the format: country + region + grade + other information. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Huila daily bean's green beans are Colombia Huila Supremo SC17/18 FNC.

How to Brew Colombian Coffee for Great Taste?

FrontStreet Coffee's flavor descriptions for each coffee are based on freshly roasted beans. If coffee beans have been stored for more than a month, some aroma may have been lost, making it difficult to reproduce the flavor during brewing. FrontStreet Coffee also understands the importance of freshness, so it ensures only coffee beans roasted within 5 days are shipped, allowing everyone to enjoy the most complete flavor period upon receipt.

Considering that Huila daily beans use medium-dark roast, with flavors leaning toward nutty, chocolate-rich, and mellow tones, the darker roasting makes the coffee beans' texture more porous and coffee grounds more absorbent, so medium grind is chosen. To avoid extracting too many off-flavors, FrontStreet Coffee will slightly lower the water temperature to medium 90 degrees Celsius, paired with a KONO dripper for extraction.

Unlike V60 drippers, the KONO dripper's only exhaust area is in those quarter ribs. When the water level passes the rib area, the water in the dripper continuously rises, increasing pressure through the weight of the water. Since the outlet is relatively smaller, it can extend the contact time between coffee particles and water, more effectively bringing out soluble substances as water flows, thus enhancing the coffee's rich, mellow taste.

Brewing parameters: KONO dripper, 90 degrees Celsius water temperature, #20 standard sieve 75% passing rate grind, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, coffee amount: 15 grams, three-stage extraction

Pour coffee grounds into a V60 dripper, use twice the amount of water as coffee grounds to wet the coffee bed, forming a dome and bloom for 30s, then use small water flow to pour water from inside to outside in circles to 125g for the first stage. Wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the dripper's position, then continue with the same fine water flow to inject the third stage to 225g, until all coffee liquid filters through and remove the dripper, taking about 2 minutes.

This Colombian Huila daily bean has distinct roasted aromas of chocolate, nuts, and caramel upon entry, smooth and sweet, with moderate body and clean taste. As the temperature decreases, you can experience pleasant, soft acidity.

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