Colombian Coffee Beans: Story, Characteristics, and Grading - Are All Colombian Coffees Arabica Varieties?

For more premium coffee knowledge, please follow the official WeChat account: FrontStreet Coffee

Colombian coffee is known for its soft, smooth texture and excellent balance, earning countless accolades. 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."

What Makes Colombian Coffee Exceptional?

Like many agricultural crops, coffee bean quality is influenced by factors such as variety, climate conditions, altitude, harvesting management, and post-processing methods. 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 nutrients from the coffee tree are supplied to the fruit, resulting in denser beans with harder textures, while also allowing more time to absorb and store nutrients in the form of sugars. The Andes Mountains within Colombia perfectly meet these "demanding" conditions.

The Andes Mountains are located in western Colombia, divided into three continuous high ranges. Each range contains fertile soil rich in organic matter, with coffee trees planted at elevations between 800-2300 meters, enjoying nourishing sunlight and appropriate shade from cloud cover. The diverse climate between the mountains ensures harvest seasons throughout the year, with different types of coffee maturing at different times, allowing us to see busy figures harvesting in the forests during every season. 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 the high humidity and small temperature differences in coffee forests, coffee beans mature slowly, which is beneficial for the accumulation of caffeine and aromatic compounds, resulting in the best coffee quality.

The secret to Colombian coffee's success extends beyond its unique geographical environment. As the local national beverage, coffee growers' love, research, and dedication to coffee are unmatched by other coffee-producing regions. In recent years, with industry development, Colombian coffee has demonstrated exceptionally rich flavors through the incorporation of manual bean selection, refined fermentation, and professional cupping knowledge, naturally becoming the preferred choice for coffee enthusiasts.

Colombian Specialty Coffee Cultivation Model

Early Colombian coffee was exported named after local production areas. Even beans with specialty coffee grades at that time appeared as local micro-batches. The cultivation scale of smallholders in Colombia is not large, and few smallholders have their own processing equipment. Beginning 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 (featuring coffee farmer Juan Valdez and his loyal mule) and oversees the quality of every coffee bean exported from Colombia. Not only does it engage in international market promotion, but it also invests significant human and material resources in farmer cultivation, production, management, and sustainable operations within Colombia.

Thanks to FNC's management and guarantee, Colombia now has coffee planted in 590 cities and 14 coffee-growing regions across approximately 875,000 hectares, mostly from small coffee farms. The cultivation area for Colombian smallholders is typically around 2-3 mu (approximately 0.13-0.2 hectares). Smallholders take their coffee to community coffee processing stations for washing or establish their own green bean processing equipment, finally sending it for quality grade testing.

From the map, we can observe that Colombian coffee growing regions have quite distinct boundaries, divided into 3 major areas from south to north: northern, central, and southern regions. The main specialty bean-producing regions in Colombia are in the south, at elevations above 1500 meters, including San Augustin in Huila Province, Popayan in Cauca Province, Nariño Province, and Tolima Province. Products from these areas have delicate fruity acidity and berry aromas, with caramel notes and full sweetness.

Colombia cultivates numerous coffee varieties, predominantly traditional Arabica varieties like Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, and Pacamara. Of course, there are also some popular rare varieties, such as Gesha, which have appeared in small batches on the market in recent years. FrontStreet Coffee's selected FrontStreet Coffee Colombia daily bean is produced in Huila, with the coffee variety being Caturra, which is widely planted locally. It uses natural washed processing and delivers 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 refined natural and honey-processed micro-batches, as well as special processing methods. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's very popular FrontStreet Coffee Colombia Rose Valley coffee and FrontStreet Coffee Colombia Flower Moon Night coffee have rich floral and fruit aromas, making them acceptable even for friends trying coffee for the first time. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that if you want to taste the inherent aroma of Colombian coffee, it's best to choose naturally washed processing to highlight the clean taste of high-altitude coffee.

Colombian coffee growing 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 these machines, which not only remove the skin and pulp but also require only very small amounts of water to remove most of the mucilage. Parchment beans with small amounts of residual mucilage enter a small pool or container, possibly a tiled pool, for overnight fermentation to loosen remaining mucilage. The next day, they are thoroughly rinsed with clean water and finally spread under the sun to dry to the target moisture content.

How Is Colombian Coffee Graded?

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

Regardless of the green bean screen size, as long as green beans are exported, they belong to the Excelso grade. In other words, most Colombian green coffee bean bags exported worldwide today must be marked with the Excelso grade designation. The 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 these requirements: 500 grams of green beans must be screen size 14 or larger, with no more than 5% of green beans between screen 12 and 14, and overall at least 50% of green beans must be larger than screen 15. Must be pest-free, uniform in color, no off-flavors, and clean flavor. Moisture content cannot exceed 12.5%, and cumulative defects cannot exceed the 24-point limit.

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

How to Brew FrontStreet Coffee 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 restore the original flavor during brewing. FrontStreet Coffee also deeply understands the importance of freshness, so we ensure only coffee beans roasted within 5 days are shipped, allowing everyone to enjoy the complete flavor period upon receipt.

Considering that FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Huila daily bean uses medium-dark roast with flavors leaning toward rich nuts and chocolate notes, the darker roasting makes the coffee beans more porous and the coffee powder more absorbent. Therefore, a medium grind degree is chosen. To avoid extracting excessive off-flavors, FrontStreet Coffee slightly reduces the water temperature to medium 90 degrees Celsius, paired with a KONO dripper for extraction.

Unlike the V60 dripper, the KONO dripper's only exhaust area is in the quarter ribs. When the water level passes the rib area, the water volume in the dripper continuously increases, building pressure through the water's weight. Due to the relatively smaller outlet, it prolongs the contact time between coffee particles and water, effectively extracting soluble substances as water flows, thereby enhancing the coffee's rich, full-bodied taste. This dripper is also suitable for brewing FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1, and other medium-dark roasted coffee beans.

Brewing parameters: KONO dripper, 90°C water temperature, 20-mesh standard screen with 75% pass-through grind, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee grounds, three-stage extraction.

Pour coffee powder into a V60 dripper, wet the coffee bed with twice the amount of water to form a dome and bloom for 30s. Then use a small water stream to pour from inside to outside in circles to 125g for the first stage. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, then continue with the same fine water stream to pour the third stage to 225g. Remove the dripper once all coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes total.

This FrontStreet Coffee Colombia Huila daily bean presents distinct roasted aromas of chocolate, nuts, and caramel upon entry. It's smooth and sweet with moderate body and clean taste. As the temperature decreases, you can experience pleasant, soft acidity.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473