Introduction to Colombia Cauca Region Characteristics and Green Coffee Bean Roasting Recommendations

Colombia Best of Cauca

■ Region: Cauca Province

■ Micro-region: Suiwei Micro-region

■ Soil: Volcanic clay

■ Altitude: 1758m～2100m

■ Variety: Caturra

■ Processing: Washed processing method

Colombian Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee understands that Colombian coffee first began commercial cultivation in the mid-1830s and remained the country's main export crop throughout the 20th century. The mountainous terrain and many tropical microclimates have greatly contributed to the ideal growing conditions for Colombian coffee, establishing a globally recognized "brand" for Colombian coffee. Colombia grows approximately 875,000 hectares of coffee in 590 cities and 14 coffee-growing regions. The country exports an average of 75% of its production worldwide, with crops accounting for 10% to 16% of agricultural GDP. What surprises FrontStreet Coffee is that most of this coffee comes from small farms—60% of Colombian coffee growing farms are less than one hectare, while only 0.5% of coffee growing areas exceed 20 hectares.

Traditionally, most Colombian coffee was processed using the fully washed method. However, Cenicafé (Coffee Research Center) has developed an ecosystem that uses very little water, reducing pollution of local water sources by 90% and water consumption by 95%. This dry pulping method has proven reliable not only for protecting ecosystems but also for ensuring stable cup quality, and is increasingly used nationwide.

Colombian Coffee Classification

Colombia uses bean size as a differentiation standard. Both Excelso and Supremo are considered large beans, but the latter is slightly larger than the former. FrontStreet Coffee believes that compared to bean size, knowing the origin region would be more helpful for understanding quality.

Supremo | 17 mesh

Excelso | 14～16.5 mesh

Colombian Coffee Regions

Colombia's coffee producing regions are divided into commercial beans and specialty beans.

Commercial coffee bean regions are concentrated in central and northern Colombia, mostly from large-scale corporate coffee farms. Among these, the well-known "MAM" three major regions are Medellín, Armenia, and Manizales, whose main flavor characteristics are the familiar Central American style with strong fruit acidity. However, Bucaramanga from the northeastern Santander province is known for low acidity and heavy bitter fragrance, somewhat similar to Indonesian Mandheling. (This phenomenon may be due to lower altitude, resulting in decreased acidity)

Specialty coffee bean regions are mainly in the south, with altitudes around 1500 meters or higher, and numerous volcanoes that have created many renowned specialty producing regions, including Cauca, Huila, Meta, Tolima, Nariño, etc. The main flavors are caramel fragrance with delicate berry aromas and fruity acidity, with noticeable sweetness!

Antioquia

Antioquia was the country's "Wild West" for many years, initially settled almost entirely by gold miners. In the latter half of the 19th century, Antioquia became one of Colombia's most important coffee producing regions.

Chocó

Most of Chocó's coffee grows near the municipality of El Carmen de Atrato, separated by just a steep mountain ridge from the fertile coffee-growing slopes of southwestern Antioquia. The region is a biodiversity-rich area and one of Colombia's most remote regions, having suffered from violence and isolation in the past due to the presence of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

Chocó's coffee region lies within the mountain range bordering Antioquia, with no other viable routes to transport coffee out of the area. Therefore, almost all coffee from Chocó is milled in Antioquia.

Huila

Huila has excellent soil and geographical advantages for coffee cultivation. This region belongs to the Colombian national coffee company's selected high mountain coffee beans, known as Colombia's national treasure. The region has over 70,000 coffee growers covering more than 16,000 hectares (39,500 acres). Usually, Colombian coffee beans without special market trademark names come from the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers, which has always been known for its strict quality control and active promotion.

Nariño

Nariño is located in the southernmost part of Colombia. Due to its proximity to the equator, the region can grow coffee at very high altitudes, with many farms located on slopes over 2000 meters. Growing coffee in many of these high-altitude areas is challenging, as coffee trees may be affected by leaf rust disease. However, Nariño is close enough to the equator that the climate is suitable for coffee tree cultivation. The vast majority of Nariño's 40,000 producers are small farmers, each cultivating less than 2 hectares (4.4 acres). Many form groups and organizations to support each other and interact with the FNC. In fact, the average farm size is less than 1 hectare (2.2 acres), with only 37 producers in the region owning more than 5 hectares (11 acres).

Santander

Santander grows a large amount of Typica, most of which is Rainforest Alliance certified. The region has a drier climate and lower altitude.

Sierra Nevada

Located in the northern Caribbean side of Colombia's Andes Mountains - the Sierra Nevada mountain range (also translatable as Nevada Mountains), it is Colombia's highest mountain range. The peaks are snow-capped year-round. The specialty beans produced in this mountainous area are named after the Sierra Nevada mountain range. In recent years, their reputation has gradually grown. The coffee beans produced are not only purchased by FNC (Colombia's national coffee organization) but also sold externally by coffee farmer cooperatives under the Sierra Nevada or Snow Cap micro-region names.

Tolima

Tolima was one of the strongholds of Colombia's notorious rebel organization FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), which maintained control until recently. Tolima has suffered from fighting in recent years, making access difficult. Quality coffee from this region comes from small farmers cultivating in very small micro-plots and exported through cooperatives.

Cauca

Cauca's most famous coffee comes from near the towns of Inza and Popayan. The Meseta de Popayan is a plateau where high altitude provides favorable growing conditions, combined with proximity to the equator and surrounding mountains that protect coffee from Pacific humidity and southern trade winds. This creates a very stable climate year-round. Additionally, the region's coffee has significant volcanic soil. Historically, there is a single rainy season from October to December each year.

■ Altitude: 1,758-2,100m

■ Harvest period: March-June (main season) November-December (secondary season)

■ Varieties: 21% Typica, 64% Caturra, 15% Castillo

■ Flavor: Balanced taste with malic acid and caramel notes

What is the Cauca Best Cup?

The Cauca Best Cup competition began in 2014, jointly organized by renowned American traders, local exporters, and the Colombian Coffee Association. The first Cauca Best Cup in 2014 received about 200 competing samples, while 2015 saw more than double that number, with about 500 small farmers competing in this competition. The organizers select the top 30 from over 500 samples, then an international jury conducts cupping to select the final top 12. On the last day of the event, green bean buyers and roasters from around the world bid on the Cauca Cup winners.

Such competition activities as the Cauca Cup are genuinely helpful. Not only do they increase small farmers' income significantly and provide opportunities to improve their living conditions, but they also encourage them to invest more in and improve their coffee cultivation and production to produce higher quality coffee.

Coffee Cultivation in Cauca Province

Cauca Department, named after the Cauca River, is located in southwestern Colombia and, together with Nariño Department and Huila Department, forms one of Colombia's important specialty coffee producing regions.

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 suitable conditions for coffee growth. 80% is mountainous, with parallel mountain ranges in the eastern and central parts, forming part of the Andes Mountains. The central mountain range includes two main volcanoes, Sotara and Petacas. Similar to other southwestern producing regions, precipitation shows a clear unimodal distribution, with the dry season mainly appearing from August to September each year. The subsequent rainy season brings concentrated coffee flowering, followed by concentrated coffee harvest season in the next year.

Regarding the biggest difference between Cauca and other producing regions in terms of climate, it's probably the relatively large temperature difference. The daily average temperature is 11°C, while the daytime average is 18°C. The day-night temperature difference is an important factor in producing quality coffee. Low nighttime temperatures and relatively higher altitudes slow down the coffee's growth rhythm, allowing coffee seeds and beans to more fully absorb nutrients from coffee cherries, also creating better acidity in Cauca coffee and its acclaimed special sweetness.

Local judges evaluated 500 participating batches through four rounds of cupping to select 30 batches for the finals. Thirty international judges then conducted two rounds of cupping to determine the final top ten.

Suiwei Micro-region Introduction

Local coffee farmers grow coffee along the highlands of these mountain ranges, with production conditions featuring diverse climates. Due to factors of topography and altitude changes, a large part of Colombia's coffee industry follows a small farmer production model. Surrounded by high mountains, the magnificent peaks block air currents and moisture from the Pacific Ocean and also block trade winds from the south, thus maintaining a stable climate in the producing region. Close to the equator with abundant sunlight. Stable climate and sufficient sunshine provide guarantee for stable coffee quality.

Altitude: 1758m～2100m

Harvest: October～December; June～August

Variety: Caturra

Roasting Recommendations

These coffee raw beans are rounded, green with yellow tones, have relatively good uniformity, and higher moisture content. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's roasting goal is medium-dark roast, on one hand to express balanced and mellow texture, and on the other hand to showcase richly layered chocolate and nutty flavor aromas.

In the first batch of roasting, the dropping temperature was relatively high, with bean entry temperature at 200 degrees and relatively high heat. During the roasting process, FrontStreet Coffee found that this batch of beans has higher altitude, harder bean density, and higher moisture content, so they adopted a roasting approach of extended dehydration, gradual heat reduction, and stable climbing. At the yellowing point, after dehydration completion, and before first crack, they respectively reduced the heat to avoid surface scorching, and chose to glide for 2 minutes 50 seconds after first crack completion before dropping, extending the caramelization reaction time, reducing excessive fruit acidity, and increasing more nutty and fruity aftertaste.

Yangjia 600g Semi-direct Fire Roaster

Heat the roaster to 200°C, add beans, open damper to 3. After 30 seconds, adjust heat to 160 degrees, damper unchanged. Return temperature point at 1'37", maintain heat. At 5'15", bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 140 degrees, adjust damper to 4.

At 8'55", dehydration completed, reduce heat to 185 degrees. At 9'10", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma obviously changes to coffee aroma, can be defined as prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'17", first crack begins, reduce heat to 90 degrees, open damper fully to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not too small to stop cracking sounds). After first crack, develop for 2'50", drop at 199.4 degrees.

Colombian Cauca Coffee Brewing Report

Important Notice :

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