Colombia "Little Blue Mountain" vs Nicaragua "Little Blue Mountain" Coffee: Flavor and Taste Comparison

FrontStreet Coffee · Colombia Little Blue Mountain

Colombia FNC Butterfly

Selected SUPREMO grade premium small-farm batches

Most Colombian specialty coffees come from the southern producing regions, with the Huila department being the most renowned specialty area. This region boasts fertile valleys and snow-capped Andes mountains, with millions of years of volcanic ash creating rich soil that nurtures some of Colombia's finest coffees. It's also a frequent champion in international cupping competitions. Many small farmers in this region specialize in producing micro-batch specialty coffees, each with distinctive characteristics. Additionally, this batch is certified by the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC), established in 1927, which guarantees Colombian coffee quality and origin certification. It's a non-profit organization dedicated to serving Colombian coffee farmers and the only official professional guild representing Colombian coffee.

Flavor Description

Drup fruit, vanilla, nuts, dark chocolate, with a rich caramel aroma in the aftertaste, full-bodied texture.

Coffee flavor notes: Caramel, blackcurrant, roasted walnuts, vanilla, honey

FrontStreet Coffee · Nicaragua Little Blue Mountain

Nicaragua

Grown in an exceptional natural environment

Grown in high-altitude regions, this SHB (Strictly High Bean) grade organic cultivation features clear, pure irrigation sources and fertile volcanic soil. Using shade-grown cultivation methods to maintain soil sustainability, with hand-picking of fully mature fruits, giving Nicaraguan coffee its unique style and charm, earning it the beautiful name "Little Blue Mountain."

Flavor Description

Features a smooth acidity that transitions to sweetness, with clean aromas that give this coffee a soft, mellow body.

Coffee flavor notes: Ripe coffee fruit pulp, hazelnuts, roasted walnuts, citrus

In fact, besides these two coffees from Central and South America, FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection also includes a single-origin coffee known as "Little Blue Mountain Coffee." It comes from the Asian producing region of Papua New Guinea, a relatively small island nation that possesses Blue Mountain-like terroir conditions and Typica varieties introduced from Jamaica, resulting in coffee that balances both smooth texture and nutty aromas. It has become a top choice for many coffee enthusiasts and is now available on FrontStreet Coffee's Tmall flagship store, where everyone can order online.

Exploring Papua New Guinea's Unique Coffee Region

Next, let FrontStreet Coffee guide you through this producing region to discover what makes it so special.

Papua New Guinea is an island nation near Indonesia with a tropical rainforest climate and abundant forest resources. The highlands at elevations between 1300-1800 meters are ideal for coffee cultivation. As a former British colony, it wasn't until 1931 that Papua New Guineans introduced Typica seeds from Jamaica for local cultivation, gradually developing the coffee industry commercially. The Papua New Guinea coffee regularly featured on FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection is sourced from ancient Typica varieties, processed using washed methods and medium-dark roasting, presenting notes of hazelnut, toasted bread, and sugarcane, with a clean, sweet flavor profile.

The Excellence of Typica Varieties

Typica, with its mellow and fragrant characteristics, remains a high-quality coffee variety cultivated worldwide, with Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee being the most famous example. Growing elegant and pure-flavored Typica coffee beans is no simple task - every step from natural terroir conditions, plant management, fruit harvesting, to post-processing must be thoroughly guaranteed for the beans to develop positive flavors and textures. This means producing premium Typica requires more labor costs and technical expertise, which explains why Blue Mountain and Kona coffees are so precious.

The most distinctive feature of the Typica variety is that its top leaves display a reddish-bronze color, hence its nickname "Red Top Coffee." Typica trees have a conical shape with slightly drooping branches, where lateral branches form 50-70° angles with the vertical stem. The trunk is slender with very fine branches. Due to its height and long-branch characteristics, Typica trees require sufficient spacing when planted. Typica coffee beans are relatively large, long, and pointed at both ends, somewhat egg-shaped. After roasting, they often exhibit citrus acidity with subtle bitterness and a sweet aftertaste, maintaining high overall cleanliness, praised by many for their elegant and bright flavor characteristics.

On FrontStreet Coffee's regular bean selection, there are several Typica varieties, including Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 natural-process Typica coffee beans, and Papua New Guinea Paradise Bird coffee beans. When planted in different terroir conditions and processed using different methods, Typica can express different flavors and textures. Here, FrontStreet Coffee introduces the washed Typica from Papua New Guinea - Paradise Bird coffee beans.

Sigri Paradise Bird Estate

FrontStreet Coffee's Paradise Bird coffee beans are produced by the Sigri Paradise Bird Estate, using washed processing and named after Papua New Guinea's national bird. Paradise Bird Estate is located in the Waghi Valley of the Western Highlands, featuring mineral-rich volcanic soil, cool climate, fertile ground, and abundant rainfall. The estate uses organic fertilization for all coffee cultivation. High-standard cultivation and production practices give Typica coffee from this region a cleaner profile. Paradise Bird, with its soft, low-acidity taste and balanced flavors, has earned the beautiful name "Little Blue Mountain."

Papua New Guinea: Ideal Coffee Growing Conditions

Papua New Guinea is the largest island nation in the South Pacific, located in the eastern half of New Guinea Island, bordering Indonesia to the west and Solomon Islands to the east. It features a typical island climate with high temperatures and humidity year-round, and its unique geography has created microclimates in the highland regions. Located between the equator and 10°S latitude, it has dense tropical rainforests, northern volcanic rocks, southern coastal marshes, and central plateau terrain at elevations of 1200-2500 meters - perfect conditions for coffee cultivation. Although Papua New Guinea's coffee industry started relatively late, its quality potential is excellent, with almost entirely Arabica beans. Premium coffee grown in highland regions has been gaining attention from specialty coffee professionals in recent years, showing great future promise.

Rigorous Washed Processing

This Paradise Bird coffee from Sigri undergoes strict wet mill processing. Quality control begins right in the coffee fields. First, coffee cherries are hand-picked and carefully inspected for uniformity - they must be red and fully mature, as only such cherries can present balanced sweetness and acidity. Then, these selected cherries are pulped on the same day they're picked to prepare for fermentation. The entire fermentation process lasts three days, interrupted only once every 24 hours during washing. Unlike other washed processing methods, the coffee beans are completely soaked in water for one day, forming a unique flavor profile. Next, all coffee beans are sun-dried to further enhance their flavors. Subsequently, they undergo careful conditioning, hulling, grading, and manual sorting.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: Kono dripper

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind size: 75% pass-through through #20 sieve

Water temperature: 89°C

FrontStreet Coffee discovered that using the Kono dripper for brewing can better present the body of this coffee, extracting the nutty and cocoa aromas more fully. For this brewing, FrontStreet Coffee uses a multi-stage extraction method: bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, then pour in a small circular motion to 125g for the first stage, continue pouring to 225g when the water level drops to just before exposing the coffee bed, then remove the dripper when the water level again drops to just before exposing the bed (timing from the start of bloom), with a total extraction time of 2'00".

Flavor Description

The dry aroma of Paradise Bird Little Blue Mountain has a subtle spice note compared to Jamaican Blue Mountain. The taste reveals nutty and toasted bread sweetness, with slight fruit acidity adding more flavor layers. The aftertaste is spiced-sweet, with an overall rich and balanced texture.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473