Colombian Coffee and the Delicate Narino_Where to Buy Narino Coffee in Guangzhou

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more information on coffee beans, read on.

Narino Coffee Region Quality

The quality of coffee produced in Colombia's Narino region was better several years ago than it is today. Excessive rainfall and rust disease have pushed both quality and production efficiency down. The environmental conditions are not perfect, but the situation now appears to have stabilized.

When producers bring their coffee to buying stations, every batch goes through professional cupping evaluation. Cuppers grade each lot by quality, and the best lots are separated out and consolidated into larger batches.

Introduction to La Minita Estate

Model Student comes from Narino, Colombia's southernmost province, and is made by carefully selecting specific small estates or farms in the region and hand-sorting the highest-quality Supremo grade green coffee. Because of these strict selection mechanisms, Model Student coffee has an annual production of only about 6,000 bags, roughly 4% of the Narino region (the whole province produces about 150,000 bags of coffee a year). These beans represent the finest of Narino, with all processing strictly overseen by La Minita's Costa Rican European Preparation standards, which ensures excellent quality stability.

La Minita

La Minita is an international coffee export company named after its flagship estate, Hacienda La Minita in Tarrazu, Costa Rica. Beyond the Costa Rican flagship, La Minita also supplies green coffee from producing regions around the world. The company vertically integrates its farms and processing plants in each location, ensuring consistent and stable quality and flavor, and it stations staff in world-class producing regions and origins to make sure the coffee meets La Minita's high export standards.

Geographical Environment of La Minita Estate

Hacienda La Minita sits within the famous Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. Thanks to the estate's excellent geographical setting and microclimate, La Minita's beans taste more balanced and aromatic than other coffees from Tarrazu.

Of La Minita's total cultivated area of 1,200 acres, 680 acres are currently under cultivation. Of the remaining 520 acres, 200 acres in the southern part of the estate serve as a natural forest protection area where planting coffee trees is forbidden. The estate's planting areas run east to west, bordered by the Tarrazu River to the south and the Alumbre River to the north. Those two rivers converge at the western ridge where the estate lies. The soil is a mix of grayish-white, yellowish-brown, and light red clay rich in organic matter. Parts of the estate reach an altitude of 1,830 meters, while the central region ranges between 1,250 and 1,650 meters.

Despite differences in altitude and temperature, the large rivers surrounding the estate create a cooling effect that minimizes those variations. The farm also faces west, allowing it to warm slowly in the morning and cool gradually in the evening. This unusual geography produces exceptionally favorable natural conditions.

Coffee Varieties and Cultivation at La Minita Estate

Across roughly 680 acres of planting area, La Minita Estate grows four varieties of coffee trees: Caturra, Caturra red, Caturra yellow, and Hibridoru. After years of experimental statistical analysis and cupping tests, the estate decided to focus on the Caturra variety while keeping small quantities of the old Hibrido variety. Although La Minita plants about 2,500 coffee trees per acre, it sets planting density according to the geography and the variety. The estate currently holds a total of about 1.7 million trees. La Minita uses a 5-year rotation system: every 5 years the original trees are cut back to about 50 centimeters in height, leaving the lower branches, which stimulates regeneration. One year after cutting, two main young shoots are selected to produce over the following four years. All of this is done by hand, with about 350,000 trees pruned each year. After three pruning cycles, or 15 years, a coffee tree's resources are nearly exhausted, and La Minita replaces it with a new tree from its own nursery. The nursery sits in a well-protected part of the estate. New trees grow there for one year before being transplanted to the production farms. Under normal circumstances, La Minita transplants about 150,000 coffee trees a year. The estate also uses fast-growing, broad-leaved "Poro" trees as shade, planted at different densities depending on the sunlight and temperature-control needs of each production area and adjusted as demand changes.

All soils on the estate are tested twice a year, and fertilization decisions follow those results. La Minita is very cautious with anything that boosts yield and fertilizes about three times a year, a choice driven by both economics and environmental concerns. In addition, trace elements such as zinc, boron, and copper are sprayed on the undersides of the leaves to feed the trees and prevent disease.

No pesticides are used at La Minita Estate. The climate and altitude created by the estate's geography fortunately keep pest populations in check. Most importantly, careful cultivation and weeding keep La Minita's trees strong and healthy, so the few pests present do no significant damage.

As the rainy season ends, the cherries ripen. Green cherries begin to turn red or yellow. Ripening is slow and uneven, unlike the fast, uniform flowering, so harvesting must be handled with special care. Ripe cherries are picked first while unripe fruit is left on the tree for later; a single tree may be harvested up to 5 times depending on ripeness. The harvest season ends after the final picking, around late February. After the season, all remaining fruit, ripe or not, is stripped so the trees are ready for the next year's production.

FrontStreet Coffee is a roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but a remarkably varied lineup of beans, carrying both famous and lesser-known origins, and it also offers online store services.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Colombian coffee is remarkably versatile: it works in espresso blends and as a pour-over single origin, and it ranges from fruit-acid styles to full-bodied cups to aroma-driven lots, so there is something for almost every taste.

The Huila department, in the southern part of Colombia's Central Cordillera, is the country's most famous specialty coffee region. It is a land of hills ringed by mountains, with cultivation above 1,500 meters, and the country's most important rivers meet here, bringing abundant water and humidity. For a first look at the region, FrontStreet's washed Huila is the place to start. Roasted medium-dark to emphasize dark chocolate and the sweetness of nuts, with moderate oils and a full body, it suits pour-over and French press as well as moka pot and espresso machine, so Americanos and lattes alike are easy to make.

Colombia traditionally used washed processing, but in recent years innovative methods have taken off, and anaerobic fermentation is one of the most exciting. Anaerobic fermentation, sometimes called carbonic maceration, is simply fermentation in a low-oxygen or oxygen-free environment, usually in a pressure-resistant stainless steel tank where temperature, time, pH, and other data can be controlled. The best-known styles are anaerobic natural and anaerobic washed, and FrontStreet's Sidra coffee uses the anaerobic natural method. After oxygen-free fermentation the coffee develops more tropical fruit aroma, and roasted medium-light it delivers complex, concentrated passion fruit, grape, apricot, and dried-fruit notes in pour-over, cold brew, drip bags, and moka pot.

For anyone with a home espresso machine or a moka pot, FrontStreet's premium blend is a barista favorite. Developed for cafe use, it combines the creamy nut character of Brazil with the dark chocolate bittersweetness of Colombia, and it pulls with a fine golden crema. It pairs beautifully with milk for a rich, smooth latte, is easy for beginners, and serves as a base for Americanos, cappuccinos, mochas, and other classic espresso drinks.