Introduction to Colombian Coffee Regions and Main Varieties?

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Many people first became acquainted with Colombian coffee through espresso blends. For a long time, Colombia's unique topography combined with low latitude and high altitude has provided an excellent growing environment for coffee trees, making it very suitable for Arabica coffee cultivation. It is the second-largest producer of Arabica coffee beans.

In the past, Colombia focused more on the commercial coffee bean market without much consideration for flavor profiles, and quality wasn't very stable. Therefore, most coffee shops would use dark roasting, then blend with coffee beans from other regions to create espresso blends with rich but not overly intense flavors, while maintaining subtle fruit acidity.

By the late 1990s, when the specialty coffee market was gradually forming, Colombia did not see much potential in it at the time and didn't start focusing on specialty coffee production until 2001. Due to their initial indifference to specialty coffee, when the market gradually exploded in popularity, Colombian coffee beans became largely overlooked, still mostly used in blends and struggling to stand out.

However, Colombia's climate, environment, and the fact that most coffee is grown at elevations of 1200-1900m perfectly meet the requirements for specialty coffee cultivation. Therefore, as demand for specialty coffee increased, Colombia became increasingly influenced by specialty market demands.

Colombian Coffee Growing Regions

Colombia is located between 3° and 8° north latitude, belonging to the low-latitude coffee belt. The most significant characteristic of low-latitude regions is abundant rainfall throughout the year without drought conditions, with average monthly temperatures between 25-28°C. In such an environment, coffee trees can grow year-round with high fruiting rates. Therefore, Colombia can harvest Arabica coffee beans twice a year.

To provide better Arabica coffee beans to the market, Colombia has divided its production into two categories: specialty coffee bean regions and commercial coffee bean regions.

Specialty coffee beans are mainly grown in regions above 1500 meters in southern Colombia, including Cauca, Huila, Meta, Tolima, and Nariño provinces. Coffee beans from these areas exhibit delicate berry aromas and acidity, as well as caramel-like sweetness. FrontStreet Coffee currently sells Colombian coffee beans mostly from southern regions at 1500-1800m elevation.

Commercial coffee beans are mainly grown in central and northern Colombia, including Medellín, Armenia, and Manizales. Coffee beans from these regions have typical Central American flavor profiles, with mild fruit acidity, nutty, and caramel aromas.

Colombian Coffee Varieties

Caturra and Catuai are the most common coffee varieties in Colombia. Additionally, some famous local coffee estates grow Geisha coffee and other new varieties such as Colombia (yes, this is a variety name) and Castillo.

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is shorter and smaller than Bourbon. As it inherits Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not well-suited for Brazilian growing conditions, so it wasn't widely cultivated there. Instead, it became popular in Central and South American countries, with large-scale plantings in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Catuai is a hybrid variety created by crossing Caturra and Mundo Novo. Catuai has good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. Catuai plants are relatively short, and compared to other coffee trees, Catuai fruits grow more densely and are harder to pick. 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 cuppers have discovered that although coffee processed from yellow fruits may have good acidity, the cleanliness of the coffee's flavor is often inferior to that of red fruits.

Castillo: Beginning in 1961, CENICAFE began researching the Timor variety, which has Robusta lineage. CENICAFE continued its research and development, releasing the second disease-resistant variety Tabi (a hybrid of Typica, Bourbon, and Timor) in 2002. In 2005, they released Castillo, which became their most successful disease-resistant variety to date. After the massive leaf rust outbreak in 2008, Colombia began aggressively promoting Castillo cultivation.

Colombia (the variety sharing the country's name) is a hybrid variety developed in 2008 with Caturra and Timor lineage, making it a Catimor variety. However, the FNC insists that although Colombia is a direct descendant of Catimor, its flavor is far more elegant than typical Catimor because Colombia has undergone multiple generations of "backcrossing" with Arabica varieties, eliminating the musty taste of Robusta beans. Its flavor more closely resembles Arabica while maintaining Robusta's disease resistance and high yield advantages, making it a powerful tool for increasing Colombia's production.

Colombian Coffee Processing Methods

Most Colombian coffee uses washed processing, and specialty coffee is mostly produced by small to medium-scale independent farms. Compared to Brazil's large-scale cultivation, small farms typically produce higher quality coffee.

After harvesting, coffee cherries are first poured into large water tanks. Underdeveloped, low-quality beans will float to the surface, while mature, full fruits will sink to the bottom. At this point, the defective beans (cherries) floating on the surface are removed.

Then, a pulping machine is used to remove the outer skin and pulp from the coffee cherries. At this point, the coffee beans still have a slippery layer of mucilage attached. The coffee beans with mucilage are placed in fermentation tanks for 16-36 hours, during which microorganisms break down the mucilage.

After fermentation is complete, large amounts of clean water are used to wash away any remaining mucilage residue from the coffee beans. Finally, the cleaned coffee beans are sun-dried.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that only washed processing can truly reflect a coffee's quality, directly showcasing the clean and pure flavors of the coffee. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has selected a Caturra coffee from the Huila region as an introductory selection/daily drink bean, allowing everyone to experience Colombian regional flavors at a highly competitive price.

Additionally, the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, abbreviated as FNC) has specially promoted specialty coffee projects, requiring strict quality control for exports! In recent years, many special processing methods have also originated from Colombia, such as barrel fermentation, anaerobic fermentation, etc. Colombian coffee continues to create innovation and progress in the specialty coffee world.

Colombian Coffee Grading System

Colombian coffee grading focuses on size rather than flavor. Therefore, when you see the highest grade "Supremo," don't automatically assume it represents better taste!

This only indicates that 80% of the coffee beans are size 17 or larger, which has nothing to do with flavor. Therefore, you must pay special attention to the specific growing region. Southern specialty regions will typically indicate the province and specific origin name. If this information is not mentioned, it's likely commercial-grade coffee beans!

How to Roast Colombian Coffee Beans?

Currently, FrontStreet Coffee sells Colombian coffee beans from the following regions:

Frontsteet - Huila Region Washed Daily Coffee Bean: Flavor profile of nuts, dark chocolate, caramel, and mild fruit acidity

Frontsteet - Rose Valley Coffee Bean: Flavor profile of roses, peach, and liqueur chocolate

Frontsteet - Flower Moon Night Coffee Bean: Flavor profile of strawberry jam, fermented notes, and chocolate

Frontsteet - San Jose Coffee Bean: Flavor profile of rum, tropical fruits, liqueur chocolate, and maple syrup

Frontsteet - Sakura Coffee Bean: Flavor profile of basil leaves, strawberry jam, berries, and vanilla spices

Frontsteet - Hanami Coffee Bean: Flavor profile of pink peppercorn, chamomile, wo citrus, honey, and almonds

To preserve the mild acidity of Colombian regional coffee beans and the sweetness from caramelization, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roasting while extending the time from yellowing to first crack, allowing the coffee beans to develop better sweetness.

To ensure everyone can experience the aroma of freshly roasted coffee, FrontStreet Coffee guarantees that coffee beans are shipped within 5 days of roasting!

How to Brew Colombian Coffee Beans?

FrontStreet Coffee uses V60 drippers to brew Colombian regional coffee. The 60° conical filter cup has relatively large holes, and its unique spiral ribbed design allows air to be expelled more easily, thereby improving extraction quality.

Water temperature: 90-91°C

Grind size: Fine sugar size / Chinese standard #20 sieve with 80% pass-through

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Coffee amount: 15 grams

Three-stage pouring: First stage, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Then pour 95g (scale shows around 125g), completing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (scale shows around 225g), completing the pour in about 1 minute 40 seconds. Complete the drip at 2'00", remove the filter cup, and finish extraction.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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