Characteristics of Colombian San Agustin Coffee? Colombian Coffee Grading

Introduction to Colombian Coffee

Originating in Colombia, these beans release a sweet aroma after roasting, marked by a pleasing combination of acidity and sweetness with balanced bitterness. Because of its well-judged concentration, Colombian coffee is often used in premium blends.

Colombian coffee offers a distinctive bitter experience, its clarity and astringency mirroring life itself, with bitterness as an essential element of it. The fragrance that lingers at the back of the tongue becomes a full recollection of the past. Bitterness represents pain, clarity brings calm, and the final fragrance is a quiet victory.

The Emerald Coffee

Colombian coffee is one of the few single-origin coffees sold under its own name around the world, and in terms of quality, few coffees have earned such high praise. It also carries a beautiful name: "Emerald Coffee."

The Colombian approach to coffee quality can be summed up in a single word: serious. Nothing but serious. A widely repeated example: although Colombians could replace their Bourbon trees with faster-growing, higher-yielding Arabica trees, they refuse to act hastily until they've confirmed the quality of the coffee those trees produce. They would willingly surrender their standing as the world's second-largest coffee producer to Vietnam, which grows only Robusta.

Natural Pasture

Colombia's climate provides coffee with a genuine "natural pasture." Yet Colombians don't dwell on their advantages. They would rather people praise the taste of their beans than attribute their reputation to geography alone. They want people to see the diligent work and relentless pursuit of quality, the painstaking effort and sacrifices behind every cup, and the quality that improves year after year. That is very hard to achieve.

Colombians are clearly people who dare to transcend and to endure solitude; they have never grown complacent when fortune smiles. Instead they keep refining and polishing their coffee, which is precisely why they can cultivate Colombian specialty coffee as they do.

Varieties

Colombian beans are graded with Supremo as the highest level, followed by Excelso. However, only Supremo-grade coffee with beans above size 18 (18/64 inch in diameter) can be classified as specialty coffee. Colombian coffee has a balanced flavor and smooth texture—much like a gentleman among coffees, well-mannered and standard. Its production area is extensive, with the best coffee coming from the central mountain regions, which offer rich texture. The most famous producing areas include Medellin, Armenia, and Manizales, collectively known as "MAM." In addition, Narino coffee has excellent taste and outstanding quality. It is said that Starbucks, which operates in specialty coffee, holds the exclusive purchasing rights to Narino Supremo beans, which are commonly found in its stores.

San Agustin

San Agustin is produced in the southern region of Huila province, a well-known coffee-growing area in Colombia, South America. These premium beans are processed at the Condor processing plant using the semi-washed method. In this region, some small farms still insist on growing Colombia's famous old Typica varieties, refusing to switch to the improved new Typica selections. Condor selects these high-quality beans from small farmers for careful processing and export.

Since most specialty coffees from Colombia have a rich ripe-fruit aroma and obvious sweetness in the finish, these raw beans are given a city roast to preserve San Agustin's precious fruit acids and its rich, bright sweetness—a fitting treatment for such a complex, layered coffee. Connoisseurs who love semi-washed coffees from Central and South America will surely enjoy this San Agustin with its bright ripe-fruit aroma and deep sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Notes

Brew with a V60 at 89-91°C, using a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio and an extraction time of two minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To get to know Colombia, start with these three from FrontStreet Coffee.

FrontStreet Colombia Huila

Huila province, in the southern part of Colombia's central range, is the country's best-known specialty region. FrontStreet's washed Huila is roasted medium-dark, bringing out black chocolate and nutty sweetness with moderate crema and a full body. It suits pour-over and French press, and works equally well in a moka pot or espresso machine for Americanos and lattes.

FrontStreet Colombia Frontera Estate Sky Claw

Processing in Colombia has moved well beyond washing. This lot uses anaerobic natural fermentation, which transforms the bean and builds more tropical fruit aroma. Roasted medium-light, it delivers complex passion fruit, grape, apricot, and preserved-fruit notes in pour-over, cold brew, drip bags, or a moka pot.

FrontStreet Specialty Blend

For anyone with a home espresso machine or moka pot, this espresso blend combines the creamy nuttiness of Brazil with the dark chocolate bittersweetness of Colombia. It pulls with fine, golden crema, pairs beautifully with milk for a rich, smooth latte, and is friendly to beginners—equally at home as the base for Americanos, cappuccinos, and mochas.