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

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

Nariño Coffee Region Quality

The quality of coffee produced in the Nariño region of Colombia was better several years ago than it is today. Due to excessive rainfall and rust disease, their quality and production efficiency have declined. Although environmental conditions are not perfect, the current situation appears to have stabilized.

When producers bring their coffee to purchasing stations, each batch of coffee undergoes professional cupping evaluation. Cuppers grade each batch according to quality, with the best batches being separated and consolidated into larger batches.

Introduction to La Minita Estate

Model Student comes from the southernmost Nariño province of Colombia, carefully selecting specific small estates or farms from the Nariño region, manually selecting the highest quality Supremo grade green coffee beans. Due to these strict selection mechanisms, Model Student coffee has an annual production of only about 6,000 bags, accounting for only about 4% of the Nariño region (the entire Nariño province produces approximately 150,000 bags of coffee annually). These coffee beans are the essence of Nariño region's finest, with all processing strictly supervised by La Minita's "Costa Rican European Preparation standards," ensuring excellent quality stability.

La Minita

La Minita is an international coffee export company named after its flagship estate Hacienda La Minita in Tarrazú, Costa Rica. In addition to the Costa Rica flagship estate, La Minita also provides green coffee beans from various producing regions worldwide. La Minita vertically integrates their farms and processing plants in various locations, ensuring consistent and stable quality and flavor in their coffee, and focuses on staff in world-class producing regions and origins to ensure coffee meets La Minita's high export quality standards.

Geographical Environment of La Minita Estate

Hacienda La Minita is located within the famous Tarrazú region of Costa Rica. Due to the estate's excellent geographical environment and microclimate, La Minita's beans have a more balanced and aromatic taste compared to other coffees from the Tarrazú region.

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 coffee tree planting is prohibited. The estate's planting areas run east-west, bordering the Tarrazú River to the south and the Alumbre River to the north. These two rivers converge at the western ridge where the estate is located. The soil consists of grayish-white, yellowish-brown, and light red clay rich in organic matter. Some parts of the estate reach an altitude of 1,830 meters, but the central region ranges between 1,250-1,650 meters in altitude.

Despite differences in altitude and temperature, fortunately, the large rivers surrounding the estate create cooling effects that minimize these variations. Additionally, the farm faces west, allowing for slow warming in the morning and gradual cooling in the evening. This unique geographical environment creates exceptionally superior natural conditions.

Coffee Varieties and Cultivation at La Minita Estate

In approximately 680 acres of planting area, La Minita Estate cultivates four varieties of coffee trees: Caturra, Caturra red, Caturra yellow, and Hibridoru. After years of experimental statistical analysis and cupping quality tests, La Minita Estate decided to primarily adopt the Caturra variety while maintaining small quantities of the old Hibrido variety. Although La Minita plants about 2,500 coffee trees per acre, they determine planting quantities based on geographical characteristics and coffee tree varieties. La Minita Estate currently has a total of approximately 1.7 million trees. La Minita employs a 5-year rotation system - every 5 years, the original coffee trees are cut back to about 50 centimeters in height, leaving lower branches. This practice stimulates tree regeneration. One year after cutting, two main young shoots are selected for production over the next four years. All these processes are performed manually, with about 350,000 trees pruned annually. After three pruning cycles, or 15 years, the coffee trees' resources are nearly exhausted, and La Minita replaces them with new trees from their own coffee nursery. The nursery is located in a well-protected area within the estate. New trees planted in the nursery grow there for one year before being transplanted to production farms. Under normal circumstances, La Minita transplants about 150,000 coffee trees annually. Additionally, La Minita uses fast-growing, broad-leaved "Poró" trees as coffee shade trees. These trees are planted at different densities depending on sunlight requirements and temperature control needs in production areas, and are adjusted according to demand.

All soils within the estate undergo soil testing twice annually, and fertilization decisions are made based on these test results. La Minita Estate is very cautious when using products that can increase yield, fertilizing about three times a year. This approach is based on economic and environmental considerations. Additionally, spraying trace elements such as zinc, boron, and copper on the back of leaves provides more nutrients to coffee trees and prevents diseases.

At La Minita Estate, no pesticides are used. Fortunately, due to the climate and altitude advantages created by the estate's geographical environment, pest populations are significantly limited. Most importantly, through careful cultivation and weeding techniques, La Minita's coffee trees grow strong and healthy, and the few pests present do not cause significant damage to the coffee trees.

As the rainy season comes to an end, cherry maturation follows. Green cherry fruits begin to turn red or yellow. Cherry maturation is very slow and uneven, unlike the rapid and uniform flowering. Therefore, harvesting must be handled more carefully. Mature cherry fruits are harvested first, while immature fruits are left on the trees for later harvesting. The fruits from a single coffee tree may be harvested up to 5 times depending on maturity. The harvest season ends after the final picking, around late February. After the harvest season, all coffee fruits, whether mature or immature, are picked to prepare the coffee trees for the next year's production.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473