Green Bean Review Colombia La Cabaña Estate Washed Caturra Coffee Caturra Coffee Roasting

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FrontStreet Coffee · Colombia La Cabaña Washed Caturra

Colombia Huila Finca La Cabaña Washed Caturra.

In recent years a growing number of micro green bean traders have specialized in a single country. Beyond the major specialty powerhouses like Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala and Indonesia, traders focused on Colombia, East Timor, India, Thailand and Myanmar have begun to appear. These smaller traders may not carry the sheer range of a large green bean merchant, but they keep closer relationships with producers and will actually travel to origin to visit farms and cup the coffee. Their prices may not be as attractive as a big merchant's, but the trade-off is that you are far less likely to be disappointed.

This batch comes from Company C, a green bean trader specializing in Colombia. According to the trader's flavor description, this FrontStreet Coffee Colombia washed Caturra shows jasmine fragrance, chocolate and caramel, with appropriate acidity and texture. Per Michael Sheridan's Colombia Caturra vs Castillo experiment presented at the SCAA annual meeting two years ago, when 32 Caturra coffees were cupped, the most common descriptors were medium acidity and texture, chocolate and caramel sweetness, herbal, citrus and cherry aromas. Cupping scores ranged roughly between 82-85 points.

Roasting Analysis

This roasting batch was 500g, with 100g first taken as a sample to estimate the defect ratio. The green beans had full moisture, a firm texture and a fresh blue-green color. Defective beans came to approximately 4g, mostly broken beans, elephant-leg defects and some underdeveloped immature seeds. There were no fully black, foreign or moldy beans. According to the green bean trader's notice, because this batch was shipped in small packages, some visible defective beans had already been removed at packing.

The bean drop-in temperature was set at 170°C, with the turning point at approximately 99.5°C after one minute. The rate of rise was normal, and the high moisture content meant dehydration took longer. The goal was to drop the beans at the end of first crack. Roasting time was approximately 9 minutes 10 seconds, with a drop temperature of 210°C. After roasting, the weight was approximately 406g.

Brewing Evaluation

After resting for 24 hours, 15g of coffee was ground for brewing; the dry aroma was a very classic Colombian sweet-and-sour fragrance with apple, cinnamon, nuts and caramel. Brewing with 210cc of 92°C water extracted approximately 170cc. The wet aroma carried spiced apple notes, and on tasting there was a rich jasmine fragrance with flavors poised between peach and apple. The fruit acidity was perceptible but not intense, sweetness was high, and a chocolate note arrived in the aftertaste. Using 20g of ground coffee to extract 50cc of espresso, the jasmine florals were not prominent but still perceptible; because the coffee was only 24 hours post-roast, some roasting harshness had not fully dissipated. The chocolate sweetness in the finish was quite good. It recalled a Huila EP Señor Ninfa Perdomo Sosa (70% Caturra + 30% Castillo) that green bean trader P brought in last year, though the two differ in the smoothness of their acidity and the intricacy of their detail.

Conclusion

This is a versatile bean with more than one use. It works as a pour-over single origin, and it can be blended with beans from other regions to build a blend. As a single-origin espresso, however, it feels somewhat one-dimensional, and its crema texture cannot be called delicate.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this Colombian lot leaves you thinking about how a solid, balanced coffee earns its place, Brazil is the origin that shows why. As the world's largest producer, Brazil offers an enormous range of coffees, and its beans bring a moderate acidity and a fine balance of sweetness, bitterness and body that make them ideal for medium roasting and for blending. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic single-origin starting point: Cerrado is a well-regarded growing region, and this lot is the red Bourbon variety common across South America. Roasted medium, it shows creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut aromas with a round, low-acid body and a light bitterness, and it is flexible enough for pour-over, a moka pot, espresso as an SOE, a siphon or a French press.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon offers a different angle. Grown in Mogiana near South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil feeds the cherries, the estate is planted with the rare yellow Bourbon, a natural mutation of red Bourbon whose fruit character is cleaner. Through pour-over, a moka pot or a home espresso machine, it delivers a sugarcane sweetness not found in other regions, along with fruit and chocolate. That low-acid, balanced, affordable profile is exactly why Brazilian beans anchor so many of FrontStreet Coffee's espresso recipes, including the oil-rich Classic Blend, the nutty Premium Blend and the well-balanced Black Cocoa Blend. They supply the chocolate and cream aromas and the gentle sweet-sour-bitter balance that keeps extraction stable. A single-origin like La Cabaña is best enjoyed on its own, but it is Brazilian beans like these that quietly hold a good blend together.