The Story of Colombian Coffee Beans: Exceptional Flavor at Surprisingly Affordable Prices

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My journey through Colombian coffee began three years ago when I moved from Venezuela to Colombia's capital, Bogotá. In Venezuela, I often heard people say: "Before the discovery of oil, Venezuelan coffee was much more famous than Colombian coffee." Yet Colombians claim this is just wishful nostalgia from Venezuelans—after all, after decades of brand management, Colombian coffee beans have achieved internationally recognized acclaim.

Today, when people speak of the most authentic South American coffee, Colombian coffee beans are usually what come to mind.

Drinking Coffee Like Wine

My first impression of Bogotá upon arrival was the rich aroma of coffee permeating the air. On the second floor of the Salitre Business Center, more than a dozen coffee shops gather near the atrium, their coffee aromas spreading throughout the entire space. On the city streets, enthusiastic coffee vendors are everywhere, pulling carts and carrying thermoses filled with coffee, selling their homemade brews. Of course, to taste authentic Colombian coffee beans, you must venture into the cafés nestled in the old city districts.

I live next to the old city's Candelaria district, which was ruled by Spanish colonizers before the 19th century and has now become a historic cultural preservation area and a must-visit destination for tourists. Many old houses serve as various museums, schools, small shops, restaurants, and cafés. Each restaurant and café here has its own unique decoration style, making daily exploration of different establishments a delightful experience. It's said that in the 1940s, when García Márquez was studying at university in Bogotá, he often frequented these exquisite cafés, which could be considered the starting point of his writing career.

Among the many cafés near the old city, my most frequent visit is to the Café San Alberto located beneath the Gold Museum. Established in 1939, the Gold Museum is the world's largest gold artifacts museum, housing approximately 30,000 exquisite gold items crafted by indigenous peoples from 2000 BC to the 16th century AD, making it one of Bogotá's most popular tourist attractions. However, most visitors overlook the café downstairs—a place even Colombians praise with admiration: Café San Alberto.

Despite its fame, the coffee here isn't expensive—just two dollars for a cup. The staff told me that for these mere two dollars, they spend nearly 20 hours. They use the cold-drip method to brew coffee, which requires the most time and patience. Cold water must be dropped one drop at a time onto a filter containing coffee grounds, allowing the water droplets to slowly penetrate the coffee powder. Finally, the water in the filter completely absorbs the coffee's flavor before dripping drop by drop into the coffee pot below. The entire dripping process takes over 7 hours, after which the cold coffee in the pot must be refrigerated for 12 hours to complete the process.

A Glass of "Red Wine Coffee"

Beyond the preparation method, the way coffee is consumed here is equally sophisticated. The waiter first removes a wine glass from the refrigerator, carefully wipes it clean with a paper towel under the light, places it on an electronic scale, adds two ice cubes, and finally pours in the coffee. This elaborate ceremony made me feel truly honored—after all, it's only two dollars, why such an elaborate procedure? Is it to create atmosphere or display refinement? Only after handing me the cup did the waiter reveal the answer: this method is called "a glass of red wine coffee," which needs to be savored like red wine to fully appreciate the aroma and richness of the coffee. I wiped the condensation from the cup's surface and saw that the coffee truly was as crystal clear as red wine.

The largest coffee chains in Bogotá are not Starbucks but two local brands: Juan Valdez and OMA, visible almost everywhere in the bustling downtown areas. Besides serving various coffee preparations, they also offer some Western-style pastries. Locals typically eat light dinners, often just coffee and bread, making bakeries and cafés the best-performing businesses.

Juan Valdez is Colombia's most famous coffee brand, operating chain stores while also selling coffee accessories and clothing. Perhaps because these local coffee shops are so popular, foreign brands like Starbucks find it difficult to penetrate the Colombian market—it wasn't until last year that Starbucks opened its first store in Bogotá.

Deep Mountain Coffee Plantations

After tasting authentic Colombian coffee, I became even more eager to understand the cultivation and production process. Previously, due to various social problems, for safety reasons, tourists rarely had the opportunity to visit authentic Colombian coffee plantations. However, with the government's intensified crackdown on violent organizations over the past decade, more and more visitors can now witness deep mountain coffee plantations and observe the entire coffee production process firsthand.

Colombian coffee plantations are mainly concentrated in the "Coffee Golden Triangle"—the triangular area formed by three important producing regions: Medellín, Armenia, and Manizales. The coffee produced here accounts for the largest proportion of Colombia's national production and boasts the highest quality. I arrived at the "Coffee Golden Triangle" one early morning. As the plane landed in Armenia, I saw verdant mountain peaks shrouded in clouds and mist, with dawn casting a golden veil over the green fields. The driver picking me up hadn't even waited for me to settle in before speeding toward the pre-arranged farm. Along the way, the small towns and fields we passed exuded a leisurely atmosphere—no speeding cars, no hurried people, and even livestock wandered aimlessly and contentedly. This is rural life in Colombia.

The driver told me that the "Golden Triangle" is actually a valley formed when the Andes Mountains enter Colombia from the Ecuadorian border and split into eastern and western branches. This region features fertile soil formed by volcanic eruptions, with an average annual temperature of approximately 18 degrees Celsius and annual rainfall between 2000 to 3000 millimeters. These natural advantages make Colombia one of the few countries in the world that can harvest coffee year-round.

In Colombia, virtually all coffee plantations are established along mountain highlands. We drove deep into the mountains for a long time before reaching our destination—Agrado Coffee Farm. John, who greeted me, is a tall, handsome young man responsible for technical and management here. He told me that the word "coffee" originates from the Greek word "Kaweh," meaning "strength and passion." He said that although there are no specific records, it's now widely believed that Africa is the homeland of coffee. When African slaves were sold to places like Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, coffee was brought to various locations along the way. Colombia's coffee cultivation history can be traced back to the Spanish colonial era of the 16th century: some say it arrived by sea from Haiti in the Caribbean, through El Salvador in Central America; others claim that a priest first introduced coffee beans to Colombia from the French Antilles via Venezuela.

John led me to the shade of trees on the estate. There, several young girls had already prepared tables, chairs, and equipment, waiting for me to taste coffee. They used different methods to brew coffee, allowing me to taste and compare: the traditional paper filter method reveals coffee's soft acidity; the siphon brewing method provides a more comprehensive experience of coffee's characteristics; while the syringe pressure method extracts all of coffee's essence, resulting in a richer flavor. Additionally, they demonstrated exquisite coffee equipment and skilled coffee arts such as cup washing and heating.

Walking into the coffee plantation, I saw scattered bright red coffee beans dotting a lush green landscape. John told me that these tree fruits, after harvesting, are husked and soaked for 18 hours. Quality beans sink in water, while those that float are removed and, along with their husks, fermented for use as fertilizer. Colombia places great emphasis on environmental protection—no recyclable materials are ever wasted. Finally, the remaining coffee beans undergo sun-drying, air-drying, and screening processes.

Such complex and refined processes give roasted Colombian coffee a faint, elegant fragrance—unlike Brazilian coffee's passionate intensity or African coffee's acidity, but rather a sweet, subtle aroma with gentlemanly elegance, a soft and smooth texture. For this reason, Colombian coffee is also known as "green gold."

A Place That "Plays by Its Own Rules"

Taiwanese writer Sanmao described Colombia in her travel writings as a place that "plays by its own rules": its people enjoy leisurely coffee time while experiencing social turmoil; its land grows both golden-like coffee and devilish poppies. According to Colombia's largest media outlet, El Tiempo, 93% of the world's heroin originates from the border between Colombia and Ecuador. The cultivation, processing, trafficking, and transportation of drugs are indeed the most pressing problems for the Colombian government.

In 1927, the government organized the establishment of the "Colombian Coffee Growers Federation." This is a non-profit organization serving Colombian coffee farmers and Colombia's only official professional coffee guild. For over 80 years, it has protected and supported Colombian coffee cultivation, technical training, financial support, and the spread of coffee culture, not only greatly improving social security but also building Colombia's coffee reputation worldwide. Therefore, it's considered one of the most successful guilds in the world.

A friend working at the "Colombian Coffee Growers Federation" told me that another responsibility of the federation is to strictly control coffee exports: "as long as quality doesn't meet high standards, products cannot be exported." Perhaps for Colombians, coffee is this country's calling card.

The effects of coffee are already evident: last year, Colombia was notably listed among the world's top ten happiest regions according to the UK's New Economics Foundation. Many people find this puzzling, but I'm not surprised at all. In my eyes, Colombians truly know how to enjoy life: the pedestrian streets in downtown Bogotá are a cultural paradise, with street performers juggling and dancing everywhere; at the García Márquez Cultural Center, citizens quietly read the literary master's masterpiece "One Hundred Years of Solitude"; while those tired from business meetings or shopping rest in cafés, savoring coffee, relaxing, and chatting...

Colombian Coffee Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Colombian coffee beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value—a 227-gram box costs only 95 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to café prices that often reach dozens of yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

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