How to Pour-Over Colombian La Palma Estate Coffee_How to Choose Pour-Over Coffee Filter Paper

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La Palma & El Tucan: An Important Partner from Colombia

Next, we'd like to introduce one of our most important partners in Colombia: La Palma & El Tucan ("Palm Tree and Toucan" estate).

La Palma & El Tucan was founded around 2011 by a group made up of a mad scientist, passionate founders, stubborn farmers, and talented artists. One of the founders, Felipe, had already spent more than a decade in specialty coffee, running a green coffee trading business in the United States before deciding around 2010 to return to Colombia and take part in the specialty coffee revolution in his home country. The estate's elegant hostess, Elisa - perhaps because she fell in love with Felipe - fell in love with coffee too and joined this magical journey. Fittingly, the estate's logo and signature colors were designed by Elisa herself; after visiting the farm, we found that even the ladders are an unapologetic shade of pink! Carlos, the obsessive and persistent scientist, was an old friend of Felipe's from the specialty coffee world, and the moment he heard about the plan, he threw himself into it without hesitation. La Palma & El Tucan is exactly that kind of romantic, magical collaboration.

A Terroir Chosen from Scratch

Unlike most traditional producers, the founders inherited no family estates. Instead, they set out from zero to find what they considered the ideal coffee-growing environment (an "ecotopo"). After visiting more than one hundred farms, they finally bought 18 hectares of land in the Cundinamarca region, on the eastern foothills of the Andes at 1,600-1,800 meters above sea level, about an hour and a half's drive from the capital, Bogota, and launched their production project.

How to Brew Colombian Coffee from La Palma Estate

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-Over Reference

Weigh out 15g of La Palma Estate coffee and grind it to a medium grind size - the particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use the BG grinder at setting 5R (60% pass rate on the standard sieve), water at 89 degrees C, and a V60 dripper, with a recommended coffee-to-water ratio of roughly 1:15.

Pour hot water from the kettle in clockwise circles, starting from the center of the coffee bed. Start the timer as soon as the pour begins and build up to 30g within 15 seconds, then stop. At the 1-minute mark, begin the second pour, again in clockwise circles from the center of the bed. Keep the stream away from the seam where the coffee meets the filter paper to avoid channeling.

When the circles reach the outermost edge of the bed, leave one ring of margin, then work ring by ring back toward the center. At 2 minutes 20 seconds, bring the total brew weight up to 220g to finish.

Japanese-Style Iced Pour-Over [La Palma Estate]

FrontStreet Coffee's iced pour-over reference for La Palma Estate:

Colombian coffee, light-to-medium roast, BG grinder at setting 5M (67% pass rate on the standard sieve).

Use 20g of coffee, 150g of ice, and 150g of hot water. The water temperature should be 1 degree C higher than the standard pour-over recommendation of 90 degrees C. For normal brewing, use the small Fuji grinder at 3.5; for iced pour-over, grind half a setting finer at Fuji 3. The recommended coffee-to-(water+ice) ratio is 1:15.

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Then pour in segments: 60g of water in the first segment and 40g in the second. Use a relatively fine but tall pour stream, pouring with enough force to stir and agitate the bed so the grounds tumble fully - just be careful not to let the liquid level rise too high, and avoid hitting the filter paper at the edges.

Total extraction time is roughly two and a half minutes (similar to the normal extraction time for a 20g dose).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Colombian coffee is remarkably versatile: it works in espresso blends just as well as it does as a pour-over single origin. Depending on the lot, you can find bright, fruit-forward profiles, rich and full-bodied cups, or lots prized mainly for their floral fragrance - something for every taste. If you want a straightforward introduction to what Colombia tastes like, go for FrontStreet's Washed Huila. Huila, in the southern part of Colombia's central cordillera, is the country's most famous specialty coffee region: rolling hills ringed by mountains, planted at elevations above 1500m, and watered by the confluence of Colombia's most important rivers, which bring abundant water and humidity. FrontStreet's washed Huila beans take a medium-dark roast that highlights black chocolate, the sweet fragrance of nuts, moderate crema, and a full body. They suit pour-over and French press equally well, and also pull beautifully through a moka pot or espresso machine - Americanos and lattes are no problem at all.

For something more adventurous, try FrontStreet's Colombia Sidra from Finca El Diviso. Colombian coffee was traditionally washed, but innovative processing has taken off in recent years. Anaerobic fermentation - sometimes called carbonic maceration - is one of the most exciting of these new approaches. In simple terms, it is fermentation carried out in a low-oxygen or oxygen-free environment, usually in a pressure-rated stainless steel tank where temperature, time, pH, and other variables can be controlled. The best-known versions are anaerobic natural and anaerobic washed. FrontStreet's Sidra is an anaerobic natural: after the oxygen-free fermentation, the coffee develops extra tropical fruit aromatics. At a medium-light roast, brewed as pour-over, cold brew, drip bag, or moka pot, you'll taste a rich, layered fragrance of passion fruit, grape, apricot, and dried fruit.

If you brew at home with an espresso machine or a moka pot, baristas strongly recommend the FrontStreet Premium Blend. It was formulated specifically for cafe use, marrying the creamy nuttiness of Brazilian coffee with the dark-chocolate bitterness of Colombian coffee. During extraction you'll see a fine, golden crema, and it pairs wonderfully with milk for a luscious, silky latte. It's very beginner-friendly, and it also serves as a solid base for Americanos, cappuccinos, mochas, and other classic espresso drinks.