How to Make Iced Pour-Over Coffee with Colombia San Agustin Finca La Ilusion Natural

Colombia Huila San Agustin Finca La Ilusion Natural — Caturra, Castillo

Strong tropical fruit flavors, available in both pour-over and SOE roasts.

Country: Colombia

Region: San Agustin, Huila

Estate: Finca La Ilusion

Owner: Rosevel Ortiz Escarpeta

Varieties: Caturra, Castillo

Altitude: 1750m

Processing: Natural Process

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Flavor Notes: Wine, Grape, Cherry, Cocoa

Finca La Ilusion is a farm owned by Rosevel Ortiz Escarpeta and his family in the San Agustin region of Huila, Colombia. In 2010 the Colombian government launched a program to support farmers displaced during military conflict in the area. Rosevel was one of the farmers who joined the program and successfully became a specialty coffee producer.

How to Brew Colombia Coffee[Finca La Ilusion Natural]

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-over Reference: Weigh 15g of Finca La Ilusion Natural coffee and grind it medium. The grounds should feel slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder at setting 5R (60% passing a standard sieve), 89°C water, and a V60 dripper, with a recommended coffee-to-water ratio of about 1:15.

Pour the hot water in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter. Start the timer when you begin brewing. Within 15 seconds, pour to 30g, then stop. When the timer reaches 1 minute, make the second pour, again in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter. Avoid pouring onto the area where the coffee bed meets the filter paper, to prevent channeling.

Leave one ring when you reach the outermost ring of grounds, then pour back toward the center in circles. At 2 minutes 20 seconds the coffee should reach 220g, completing the brew.

Japanese Ice Pour-over[Finca La Ilusion Natural]

FrontStreet Coffee Ice Pour-over Reference for Finca La Ilusion Natural:

Colombia Coffee Finca La Ilusion Natural, light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (67% passing a standard sieve)

20g coffee, 150g ice cubes, 150g hot water. The water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 90°C. Normal grinding uses a Fuji setting of 3.5, while ice pour-over goes slightly finer at 3. The recommended coffee-to-(water + ice) ratio is 1:15.

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: 60g of water in the first segment, 40g in the second. Use a relatively fine but high stream, pouring with force to stir and agitate so the grounds tumble fully. Be careful not to let the water level rise too high, and avoid pouring onto the edge filter paper.

The whole extraction should take about 2.5 minutes (similar to the normal extraction time for 20g of coffee).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Colombian coffee covers a broad range — espresso blends and single-origin pour-over alike — with fruit-acid profiles, full bodies, and aroma-driven styles to suit most drinkers. FrontStreet's washed Huila coffee is a great way into the country's best-known specialty region: Huila, in the southern Central Cordillera, is a mountain-ringed area planted above 1500 meters, where Colombia's most important rivers meet and bring plentiful water and humidity. Roasted medium-dark, it foregrounds black chocolate and nutty sweetness, with moderate oils and a full body, and works for pour-over and French press as well as moka pot and espresso machine for Americanos and lattes.

For a taste of Colombia's newer wave, FrontStreet's Finca La Divisoria Sidra uses anaerobic natural processing. Colombia long relied on washed coffee, but recent years have brought innovative methods, and anaerobic fermentation — also called carbonic maceration — is one of them: fermentation in a low-oxygen or oxygen-free environment, typically a pressure-resistant stainless steel tank, with temperature, time, pH, and other variables controlled to shape the result. The best-known styles are anaerobic natural and anaerobic washed, and FrontStreet's Sidra is an anaerobic natural, converting the fruit into more tropical aromatics. At a light-medium roast it pours a complex, heady cup of passionfruit, grape, apricot, and dried fruit whether brewed as pour-over, cold brew, drip bag, or moka pot.

If you brew at home on an espresso machine or moka pot, baristas strongly recommend FrontStreet's Premium Blend, an espresso blend made for cafés. It brings together the creamy nuttiness of Brazilian coffee and the dark chocolate bittersweetness of Colombian coffee, pulling with a fine golden crema. It turns milk into a rich, smooth latte, is very forgiving for beginners, and serves as a base for Americanos, cappuccinos, mochas, and other classic espresso drinks.