Colombian Coffee Region Armenia Armenia Supremo Flavor Profile

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Colombia: The World's Third-Largest Coffee Producer

Colombia is the third highest coffee-producing country in the world, surpassed only by Brazil and Vietnam. Combined with Indonesia, which ranks fourth, these four countries account for 75% of the world's total coffee production. The remaining portion is mainly produced by Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala in Central America. The most important coffee-growing regions in Colombia are the three central provinces - Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindío - collectively known as the Coffee Zone (Zona Cafetera) or Coffee Axis (Eje Cafetero). Starting from Salento, one can walk west into the beautiful valleys.

Strategic Geographic Advantages

Colombia is fortunate to have both Atlantic and Pacific ports, which helps reduce coffee transportation costs. In South America, it is the only country with this advantage. Colombia's main production areas are located in the central and eastern mountain ranges.

Premium Coffee Growing Regions

Along the central mountain range, the most important plantations are located in the Medellín, Armenia, and Manizales regions. Among these three areas, Medellín region produces the highest quality coffee with the best prices, characterized by full-bodied beans, rich nutrition, intense aroma, and moderate acidity. These three regions are collectively abbreviated as MAM (from the first letters of their main cities). Most of Colombia's premium export coffee originates from MAM regions. Along the eastern mountain range, the two best areas are around Bogotá and further north around Bucaramanga. Bogotá coffee has lower acidity than Medellín coffee, but both are of comparable quality.

Regional Origins

In terms of both production volume and quality, Medellín-produced coffee stands out as Colombia's finest, characterized by full-bodied coffee beans, rich nutrition, moderate acidity, and excellent balance. Besides Medellín, the provincial capitals of two neighboring southern provinces, Armenia and Manizales, are also famous coffee-producing regions. They originally belonged to the Antioquia province where Medellín is located. These three places form the world-renowned "Coffee Zone."

(Colombia)

Grading System

Colombian coffee is classified into three main grades: Supremo, Excelso, and Extra. Supremo is the highest grade; premium coffee uses larger beans sourced from freshly harvested coffee beans. Extra is the secondary grade. Most regions in Colombia have switched to planting faster-growing coffee trees. Excelso grade coffee typically has a milder taste than Supremo grade with slightly higher acidity, but both belong to the aromatic category of coffee, with medium-sized beans and excellent fruit quality.

Coffee Cultivation and Harvest

Coffee is only suitable for cultivation on mountainous terrain between 1,300 to 2,000 meters altitude. There are three main types of coffee trees grown worldwide: Arabica (70%), Robusta (28%), and Liberica (2%), while Colombia exclusively grows Arabica coffee trees. Arabica coffee trees are typically not very tall. Within the plantation, there is only one relatively tall variety called Tabi, taller than a person, but grown only for ornamental purposes. Each coffee flower produces one coffee bean. The coffee bean maturation seasons are from April to May and from October to December each year. We enter the coffee tree groves to harvest coffee beans - only red and yellow coffee beans are considered mature and ready for harvesting, with yellow beans being of higher quality. For producing high-quality coffee, sometimes specialized harvesters are assigned to collect only yellow coffee beans. Coffee bean harvesters work extremely hard, earning only 500 pesos (approximately 1 RMB) per kilogram of coffee beans collected. The most diligent harvesters can collect 80-100 kilograms of coffee beans per day.

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Important Notice :

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