How is Colombia Dabiq Estate Pour-Over Coffee?_Recommended Coffee Beans from Nariño Region

The Garden Region: Alma Del Cafe De Jardin

In the central part of the coffee axis, at an altitude of roughly 1,750 meters, sits an old mountain town called Jardin, known across Europe and America for its postcard scenery and high-quality coffee. The most representative bean among them, the "Alma Del Cafe De Jardin" brand, is in fact invested in and run by the Costa Rican company La Minita's family. The variety inside is not the familiar Arabica you might expect either, but the local Caturra.

Nariño: The Premium Coffee Region

From there, let me take you to another Colombian growing region that matters to me: Nariño Province, in the southwest of the country, bordering Ecuador, with the Pacific to the west and the Andes running through it. In the south stands a famous active volcano, Galeras, at 4,276 meters. Where there are volcanoes, good coffee tends to grow. Output here is far smaller than the coffee axis, but the quality is higher.

Colombia's Diverse Coffee Growing Regions

For the past few decades, Colombia's main coffee plantations have sat in the Andes, spanning Antioquia, Boyacá, Caldas, Cauca, Cesar, Caquetá, Casanare, Cundinamarca, La Guajira, Huila, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Quindío, Risaralda, Santander, Tolima and Valle del Cauca. All of these places have the weather and soil that suit dense cultivation. Large plantings of Arabica sp., Catimor and other varieties are common, both to produce flavourful beans and because warm regions suit the growth of Canephora species, which are widespread in Venezuela, Brazil and Costa Rica. Many of these areas, however, are conflict zones for FARC and other guerrilla groups. With the prospect of resolving those conflicts, Colombia has a chance to focus more on Canephora, especially for the challenges posed by climate change.

How to Brew Colombian Coffee [Tabi Estate]

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-over Reference:

Measure 15g of [Tabi Estate] coffee and grind it medium; the particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder at setting 5R (standard sieve pass rate 60%), a water temperature of 89°C and a V60 dripper, with a recommended coffee-to-water ratio of about 1:15.

Pour from the kettle in clockwise circles centred on the middle of the dripper. Start the timer as you begin, pour to 30g in 15 seconds, then stop. When the clock reaches 1 minute, pour the second time, again in clockwise circles centred on the middle. Keep the stream off the seam where the coffee bed meets the filter paper to avoid channelling.

On the final pass, work outward to one circle short of the edge, then pour circle by circle back toward the centre. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, pour to 220g to finish the brew.

Japanese-style Iced Pour-over [Tabi Estate]

FrontStreet Coffee Iced Pour-over [Tabi Estate] Reference:

Colombian coffee [Tabi Estate], light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (standard sieve pass rate 67%).

20g of coffee, 150g of ice cubes, 150g of hot water. The water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 90°C. For normal grinding use the small Fuji setting 3.5; for iced pour-over grind half a setting finer, small Fuji 3. Recommended coffee-to-(water + ice) ratio is 1:15.

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: a first segment of 60g of water, a second of 40g. Use a relatively fine but high water column and stir forcefully so the coffee bed rolls fully, but be careful not to let the liquid level rise too high or hit the filter paper at the edges.

The whole extraction takes about 2.5 minutes, similar to the normal extraction time for 20g of coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you want to explore Colombia beyond this lot, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Huila is a natural next step. Huila, in the southern Central Cordillera, is the country's most famous specialty region: hills ringed by mountains, planted above 1,500 meters, where Colombia's most important rivers meet and bring abundant water and humidity. FrontStreet's washed Huila is medium-dark roasted, pushing black chocolate and nutty sweetness, moderate oils and a full body; it suits pour-over and French press, and also moka pot and espresso for Americanos and lattes.

For a more modern take on Colombian processing, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Frontera Sidra shows what the country is doing with innovation. Traditionally Colombia meant washed coffee, but anaerobic fermentation has taken hold in recent years, often as a low-oxygen or oxygen-free ferment in a pressure-resistant stainless steel tank where temperature, time and pH are controlled. FrontStreet's Sidra uses a natural anaerobic process, and the oxygen-free fermentation converts more tropical fruit aroma into the cup; medium-light roasted, it delivers complex, concentrated notes of passion fruit, grape, apricot and dried fruit in pour-over, cold brew, drip bags or moka pot.