How to Brew Delicious Colombian Huilan Orange River Pour-Over Coffee_Optimal Brewing Methods for Huilan Coffee Beans

Coffee Information

Region: Huila, San Agustin, Colombia

Altitude: 1,350-1,900 meters

Processing Method: Washed

Varieties: Caturra, Typica, Bourbon, Castillo

Flavor: Bright orange peel and fruit sweetness with sugarcane and vanilla cream notes, caramel and nut flavors

Characteristics: Well balanced with a smooth, creamy texture — a mellow, full-bodied cup.

Origin Story

Huila Province lies in southwestern Colombia, where coffee grows on the valley slopes between the western coastal range and the eastern range. The region has always been one of Colombia's great granaries of fine coffee. Within it, San Agustin town produces the highest quality coffee, thanks to the Los Naranjos (Orange River) that flows through it. The riverbanks are beautiful, with wide lavender fields that shelter butterflies and hummingbirds. It is also an ancient, mystical corner of Colombia, home to forests of giant stone carvings, protected by the local people from destruction — still one of the most natural and sacred coffee lands in the country.

In Spanish, "Naranjos" means orange trees, which is how this smallholder joint-production batch earned the name Orange River. The hillsides on both banks belong to small coffee farmers, in the canyon where Colombia's western coastal range meets the eastern range. Ancient inhabitants lived here and left behind many monumental stone carvings, and the locals believe the great natural forces of the forest shield the land from harsh weather, granting them a peaceful, tranquil home. In 2001, local smallholders banded together to sharpen their production and management practices for the specialty coffee market, founding an organization called La Asociacion Los Naranjos de San Augustin.

It has since grown to 50 members farming 150 hectares in total, an average of 2.8 hectares per farmer. During the main harvest, each hectare yields roughly 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms, while the secondary harvest (the fly crop) still brings in about half that amount.

During the fly crop, each farmer's output falls below the quantity needed for a micro-lot, so the group combines coffee from farmers with similar cup profiles into blended lots for sale. In 2009, one such lot stood out among 100 coffees evaluated at the SCAA annual conference, winning recognition as Coffee of the Year (SCAA COTY Winner).

San Agustin is a legendary, mysterious, beautiful Shangri-La. Because its farmers want to protect the environment and practice small-scale production — living alongside the earth without greed or excessive demands — they have created superb conditions for growing fine coffee. The maple-honey sweetness of this lot is simply intoxicating.

Brewing Guide

How to Brew Colombia Los Naranjos Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-over Reference: Weigh out 15g of Los Naranjos coffee and grind to medium coarseness. The grounds should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder at setting 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate), 89°C water, and a V60 dripper, at a coffee-to-water ratio of roughly 1:15.

Pour hot water from your kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper, starting the timer as you begin. Within 15 seconds, bring the brew to 30g, then stop pouring. At the 1-minute mark, make the second pour — as before, clockwise circles from the center — keeping the stream off the seam where the coffee meets the filter paper to avoid channeling.

As you reach the outermost ring of coffee, leave one circle of margin, then pour ring by ring toward the center. At 2 minutes 20 seconds the brew should reach 220g — done.

Japanese Ice Pour-Over Los Naranjos

FrontStreet Coffee Ice Pour-Over Reference:

Colombia Los Naranjos, light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (67% standard sieve pass rate)

20g of coffee, 150g of ice, 150g of hot water. Set the water temperature 1°C above the normal pour-over recommendation of 90°C. Grind normally at Fuji 3.5, but a half setting finer for ice pour-over — Fuji 3. Recommended coffee-to-(water+ice) ratio of 1:15.

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: first segment 60g of water, second segment 40g. Use a relatively thin but tall water column, agitating vigorously so the grounds tumble fully — but keep the liquid level from rising too high or striking the filter paper at the edges.

Total extraction time is approximately 2.5 minutes (about the same as a normal 20g brew).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Colombian coffee is wonderfully versatile — it works in espresso blends, as a pour-over single origin, in fruity or mellow profiles alike. To get to know the country's most famous growing region, start with the FrontStreet Washed Huila: from the hill country of southern Huila, planted above 1500 meters where Colombia's great rivers converge to bring abundant water and moisture. Roasted medium-dark, it highlights black chocolate and nutty sweetness with moderate crema and a mellow body — great as pour-over or French press, and equally at home in a moka pot or espresso machine for Americanos and lattes.

For a taste of Colombia's new-wave processing, try the FrontStreet Sidra (Xi Zhua) from Finca Frontera, a competition-winning variety grown at 1650-1800 meters and processed by double anaerobic natural fermentation — a low-oxygen method in a sealed pressure-rated tank where temperature, time, and pH are controlled to steer the ferment. Roasted medium-light, it delivers passion fruit, grape, apricot, and dried-fruit aromatics that work beautifully as pour-over, cold brew, drip bags, or moka pot coffee.