Flavor Profile and Taste Characteristics of Colombian Huila Coffee Beans - Colombian Coffee Brewing Methods and Features

At FrontStreet Coffee, in addition to Huayueye, Rose Valley, Hanami, and Swiss Water Process decaffeinated coffee, Colombia also offers a daily blend coffee - Huilan coffee, which is also a premium blended bean. The reason for choosing Colombian beans as the blend base lies not only in their excellent flavor but also in a fundamental characteristic: stability, ensuring consistency in both quantity and quality. As the world's third-largest coffee producer, Colombia offers considerable guarantees in both coffee production and quality, which has established Colombian coffee's significant position globally.

Colombian Coffee Growing Regions

In Colombia, the southern eastern plains and Pacific coast have a tropical rainforest climate, while the northwest has a tropical savanna climate. Average annual temperatures range from 15.8 to 20.5 degrees Celsius. Coffee regions average between 18°C and 22.5°C, with annual precipitation of 1000-2500 mm. Due to latitude variations and 86 different microclimates between production areas in southern and northern Colombia, coffee exhibits strong regional characteristics.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of washed Arabica and the only country that legally mandates cultivation of only Arabica varieties. Additionally, strong government support policies have transformed Colombia from a major heroin-producing nation to today's coffee production powerhouse. Colombian premium coffee growing regions are primarily concentrated in the south, at altitudes above 1500m, mainly distributed in Huila Province, Cauca Province, Nariño, and Tolima. These regions all feature delicate fruity acidity and berry sweetness, with full sweetness.

Colombian Huila

Located in southwestern Colombia, Huila is one of the country's main premium coffee growing regions and belongs to the Colombian National Coffee Company's select high-altitude coffee beans, known as Colombia's national treasure. It is one of the main coffee cultivation areas and Colombia's most famous premium coffee region. This area consists of hills surrounded by mountains at altitudes above 1500 meters, where Colombia's most important rivers converge, bringing abundant water resources and moisture. Contrary to coffee enthusiasts' impression of Colombian coffee as balanced and smooth, many small-producer micro-batch Colombian premium coffees actually possess strong regional flavor characteristics. Therefore, coffee beans from the Huila region have intense flavors, heavier texture, typically featuring nutty, chocolate, and caramel aromas with appropriate acidity.

According to FNC (Colombian Coffee Growers Federation) data, the Huila production region accounts for approximately 18% of Colombia's total coffee production and obtained official designation of origin in 2013. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Huila's coffee popularity stems not only from its quantity but more from its quality and reputation. Coffee batches from local farms have won Cup of Excellence awards multiple times, and many roasters, baristas, and coffee shops prioritize recommending Huila coffee beans. This is attributed to Huila coffee's full nutty aroma and bright, pleasant fruity acidity, recognized as a representative product among Colombia's top premium coffees for its excellent balance.

Cauca Province

Cauca Province is a Colombian coffee origin-certified region with an average altitude of 1758m, reaching up to 2100m at its highest. The region's topography, precipitation, temperature, and volcanic soil provide ideal conditions for coffee growth. 80% is mountainous, with parallel mountain ranges in the east and central areas forming part of the Andes, including two main volcanoes, Sotara and Petacas, in the central range. Similar to other southwestern production regions, Cauca's precipitation shows a clear unimodal pattern, with the dry season mainly occurring from August to September each year. The subsequent rainy season brings concentrated coffee flowering, followed by concentrated coffee harvest the following year.

The biggest difference between Cauca and other Colombian production regions in terms of climate is the relatively large temperature variation. The average daily temperature is 11°C, while daytime average is 18°C. This day-night temperature difference is an important factor in producing quality coffee. Low nighttime temperatures combined with relatively higher altitudes slow coffee growth, allowing coffee seeds and beans to more fully absorb nutrients from coffee cherries, creating better acidity in Cauca coffee and its notably special sweetness.

Nariño Province

Located in southwestern Colombia, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the west and Ecuador to the south, Nariño Province is traversed by the Andes Mountains. Coffee is cultivated in high-altitude cloud belts between 1600-2300m with fertile volcanic soil. The majority of Nariño's annual production is purchased by large American coffee merchants, but while Nariño Province produces about 150,000 bags annually, only about 6,000 bags are considered select beans.

Coffee Bean Varieties

In addition to common varieties in American production regions like Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, and Pacamara, Colombia also has three unique disease-resistant varieties: Castillo, Tabi, and the Colombia variety (named after the country). Of course, there are also some rare and precious varieties like Gesha, small-grained Mocca, Rume Sudan, Eugenioides, Laurina, Maraguesa, and Pink Bourbon.

The Huila region mainly cultivates Caturra and Catuai varieties common in Central and South America. The clean taste and soft acidity characteristics of these two varieties, combined with Huila's high altitude and volcanic soil advantages, produce coffee beans with delicate, soft berry acidity, roasted nut aroma, and obvious caramel aftertaste, full of sweetness.

The coffee varieties currently offered by FrontStreet Coffee - Hanami and Rose Valley - are Caturra.

Typica

As in other regions, Typica is a coffee variety with a long cultivation history in Colombia, first introduced around the late 16th to early 17th century when a priest brought it from the French Antilles via Venezuela. Typica has excellent flavor with subtle floral notes, outstanding acidity, and full body. Popular coffees like Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1, FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 Yunnan small-grain, and Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise are all harvested from this ancient, superior variety. However, due to Typica's low yield and high agronomic costs and technical requirements, most coffee farmers choose higher-yielding varieties, which is the main reason for its current small cultivation proportion.

Currently, only a few regions in Colombia still cultivate Typica. This year, FrontStreet Coffee cupped an anaerobic natural processed Typica from Colombia's Pearl Estate, featuring high-quality citrus acidity, passion fruit, and fermented aromas.

Bourbon

Bourbon is a Typica variant whose main characteristic is its rounder bean shape and superior acidity performance, with red wine-like qualities. Bourbon was officially introduced to the South American continent in 1860, initially to Brazil to replace low-yield Typica, and later spread to Colombia. However, Bourbon cultivation in Colombia is not widespread, with only a few regions growing it. FrontStreet Coffee once offered a Pink Bourbon from Paraiso Estate in Cauca Province, whose clear, clean acidity reminiscent of lemon and small tomatoes evoked associations with Kenyan coffee.

Caturra

Caturra is a natural variant of Bourbon. Its advantages over Bourbon include sun exposure properties (no shade needed), shorter stature (easy to harvest), and more branches (higher yield), while its flavor is comparable to Bourbon. This has made it Colombia's main coffee variety. Interestingly, Caturra was discovered in a plantation in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and subsequently selected by the São Paulo State Agricultural Institute (IAC) in Campinas, Brazil. However, experimental cultivation results in Brazil were not ideal, but when Caturra reached Colombia, it was immediately transformed and planted nationwide.

Huila Region Processing Methods

Colombian production regions have abundant water resources, making them very suitable for washed processing. Therefore, Colombian coffee beans are mainly processed using the washed method, with family-run farms equipped with special green bean processors (Ecomill or Eco-Pulper). With the popularity of special processing methods and Colombian coffee beans' "all are welcome" approach, increasingly more special processing methods are applied to Colombian coffee beans, with anaerobic fermentation being the most representative.

Examples include FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Hanami coffee, Rose Valley coffee, and Passion Fruit coffee. However, most farmers in the Huila region still insist on using traditional washed processing. FrontStreet Coffee also believes that washed processing best expresses the local flavor characteristics of coffee beans, which is why FrontStreet Coffee chose Colombian washed Huilan coffee as the representative for Colombian coffee.

Washed Processing Method

1. First, coffee farmers pour all harvested coffee cherries into water. Defective coffee beans will float to the surface, while quality coffee cherries sink to the bottom. This operation significantly reduces time wasted on individual selection.

2. The selected coffee cherries are placed in a depulper to remove the outer skin and pulp. After removal, the coffee cherry surface still has a layer of mucilage attached, so large amounts of clean water are needed to wash away the adhesive substances from the coffee cherry surface.

3. Next, fermentation is used to completely remove the mucilage, a process that takes about 18 hours. However, after fermentation completes, fermentation bacteria adhere to the coffee cherry surface, requiring another wash with large amounts of clean water. For this step, producing 1 kilogram of coffee beans consumes 40-50 kilograms of clean water. FrontStreet Coffee considers this a very large number, which is why drought-prone countries cannot adopt washed processing.

4. The cleaned coffee beans can then be dried. Some regions dry them directly outdoors, while more developed production areas send them to processing plants for machine drying, reducing coffee moisture content to around 11%. Finally, the dried coffee beans are stored and packaged for sale and export.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations:

To brew a delicious cup of coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes any brewing method requires fresh coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee has always maintained that coffee bean freshness greatly affects coffee flavor. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee beans roasted within 5 days. Frontsteet's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring every customer receives the freshest coffee possible. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee gently reminds: if coffee beans are pre-ground, there's no need for a resting period, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the package also helps round out the coffee flavor. Therefore, you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly because it oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor dissipates relatively quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better experience the coffee's flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Huilan Coffee Brewing Parameters:

When brewing Huilan coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses a KONO dripper. The KONO's ribs stop at less than half the dripper's height - this design ensures the filter paper adheres tightly to the dripper wall after wetting, restricting airflow and increasing water absorption time for coffee particles, resulting in more uniform overall extraction and enhanced body.

KONO dripper, 88°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee grounds, grind size (75% pass-through on #20 standard sieve), three-stage extraction.

Using segmented extraction, bloom with twice the coffee grounds amount of water - that is, 30g water for 30 seconds. The blooming process is needed to allow coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide, making subsequent extraction more stable. Using small circular pours, segment at 125g, continue pouring to 225g, then stop. Remove the dripper once the water finishes dripping. Start timing from the beginning of pouring, with extraction time of 2'00". Next, take the entire cup and shake it well before pouring into cups for tasting.

Colombian Huilan Coffee Flavor Characteristics:

The first sip reveals nutty flavors with high body. Tends toward caramel sweetness, with subtle fruit acidity at lower temperatures.

Although FrontStreet Coffee believes washed coffee beans better express local flavors, specially processed coffee beans also offer unique characteristics. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Hanami coffee features strawberry jam, chocolate, and fermented wine aromas, while Rose Valley coffee has rose, peach, and chocolate liqueur notes. These two single-origin coffees are quite popular. For friends who love coffee but worry about sleeplessness, Colombian Swiss Water processed decaffeinated coffee is also an excellent choice. Colombian decaffeinated coffee beans also have excellent flavor, with rich taste, full body, and a sweet aftertaste with vanilla and dark chocolate notes.

Are Colombian Coffee Beans Suitable for SOE?

Many coffee enthusiasts have a habit when they encounter a desirable bean: they're not satisfied with just one extraction method to taste the coffee, but want to use all available tools to extract it in every way possible. SOE (Single Origin Espresso) is one of the most popular personalized approaches. The primary requirement for a good cup of coffee is quality beans, and SOE should also use higher-quality single-origin coffee beans. Frontsteet's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," hoping every customer experiences freshly roasted, aromatic coffee beans. All shipped coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee uses Colombian Rose Valley as the extraction object, referencing espresso from their café operations to briefly explain how to prepare Espresso.

FrontStreet Coffee's café machine is a commercial single-group "Lelit Bianca," which can adjust extraction by changing pressure, with maximum pressure reaching 11bar. Home espresso machines only need 9bar pressure to satisfy extraction and milk frothing functions, paired with an espresso grinder.

Coffee beans: Colombia · Hanami Coffee Beans
Coffee grounds: 20g
Espresso yield: 40g
Coffee-to-espresso ratio: 1:2
Extraction time: 26-32 seconds
Grind setting: Galileo 2.0 setting

FrontStreet Coffee uses double basket capacity with about 18-20g of grounds, using 20g for service. The typical ratio of coffee grounds to espresso liquid is between 1:1.5-1:2.5. Frontsteet's extraction ratio is 1:2, meaning 20g of coffee grounds extracts 40g of espresso liquid. Time relates to flow rate - single extraction is generally controlled within 20-35 seconds, as coffee typically tastes thin within 20 seconds, while exceeding 35 seconds easily leads to over-extraction and bitter flavors. Frontsteet's espresso mostly falls within the 28-30 second range.

FrontStreet Coffee first wipes the portafilter dry, turns on the grinder, grinds double shot grounds, places them on an electronic scale for adjustment to reach 20g weight. Then uses a tool to distribute grounds evenly, tamps the coffee puck firmly to ensure more stable extraction. Then activates the extraction switch to run water, wetting the group head while washing away any stuck coffee residue, gently locks the portafilter to the group head, and begins the extraction. When the electronic scale shows 40g of espresso extracted (around 30 seconds), the extraction switch is turned off. The espresso liquid is poured into an Espresso cup for enjoyment.

Making SOE Americano

There's no fixed ratio for making SOE Americano, and each coffee shop has its own service standards, with the goal of presenting the coffee's flavor profile. Based on FrontStreet Coffee's multiple experiments, if using Colombian coffee beans for SOE, a 1:6 ratio provides the best taste - that is, 40g of espresso liquid poured into 240g of 80°C hot water. The SOE hot Americano is then complete. This Hanami SOE Americano not only presents cantaloupe and cranberry aromas, rich strawberry jam and fermented fruit notes, but also has a layer of cookie-aromatic crema, finishing with chocolate aftertaste for a rich experience.

Making Latte

Making latte is also quite simple - just combine SOE espresso with milk. Again, there's no fixed ratio, mostly between 1:5 to 1:8. FrontStreet Coffee uses a 1:6 ratio - 40g espresso liquid with 240g of milk. For hot latte service, FrontStreet Coffee adds espresso liquid to preheated coffee cups, then uses the espresso machine's steam wand to froth milk. Milk temperature is best controlled between 55-65°C to create dense, appropriately thick microfoam, then evenly combines with the espresso liquid. The final latte art is the perfect finishing touch.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473