Colombian Coffee Beans: Origin, Flavor, Grade, Characteristics and Stories - An Overview of Colombian Coffee Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee has discovered that many people first encounter Colombian coffee through espresso, as Colombian coffee is widely used in coffee blends due to its rich aroma and smooth, clean flavor. With the rise of specialty coffee in recent years, many high-quality single-origin Colombian coffee beans have appeared in coffee shops. FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean selection includes 5 different Frontsteet Colombian coffees, showing that high-quality Colombian coffee is becoming increasingly popular among coffee enthusiasts.

Where Does Colombian Specialty Coffee Come From?

As the world's second-largest producer of Arabica coffee beans, Colombia's high altitude and diverse climate allow it to produce higher quality coffee than most commercial beans. Geographically, Colombia straddles the northern and southern hemispheres, near the equator. The Andes Mountains, known for their high altitude, create coffee-growing regions with three mountain ranges and two river systems. The span between north and south is very large, resulting in two distinct main harvest seasons and a small micro-harvest season, which is why Colombia produces coffee year-round.

Colombian coffee is typically grown between 1,200-2,000 meters, much higher than Brazil's growing altitude. The mountains and valleys create various unique microclimates, with rainfall brought by warm ocean currents and mineral-rich soil formed by volcanic activity. These factors combine to give Colombian coffee a high-quality acidic aroma.

Colombian coffee cultivation is mainly distributed throughout the western part of the country, with 15 producing regions from north to south. Among these, high-quality specialty coffees are concentrated in the southwest, particularly in the Cauca, Nariño, and Huila regions, known for their rich fruit acidity and smooth flavors.

Nariño

The Nariño region is located in the southwesternmost part of Colombia, bordering Ecuador. Multiple rivers bring abundant water resources here, and sunlight is plentiful throughout the year. Coffee trees are mostly grown at an altitude of 1,600 meters. Due to the warm, humid air currents brought by the valleys, Nariño's coffee can even be grown at altitudes up to 2,300 meters. Combined with fertile nutrients provided by volcanic ash, the coffee grown here has a balanced, smooth flavor with a clean taste.

Nariño's coffee production accounts for about 3-5% of the country's total. With only one harvest season per year, although the quantity is not large, its high quality is loved by many coffee enthusiasts. Starting in October each year, there is a rainy season lasting half a year, and the harvest season begins in April of the following year. The work of picking ripe coffee cherries in higher altitude areas continues until August.

Cauca

The Cauca region is located next to Nariño in the southwest, with the highest altitude reaching 2,100 meters and an overall average altitude of 1,758 meters. The terrain is predominantly mountainous, with significant temperature differences at high altitudes. Coffee fruits mature slowly in environments with large temperature variations, thus absorbing more nutrients. Coffee from Cauca has a smooth sweet and sour taste.

Similar to the Nariño region, Cauca experiences a rainy season from October to December. After the rainy season ends, coffee trees have concentrated flowering, followed by the coffee harvest period.

Huila

As Colombia's most famous coffee-producing region, Huila province is surrounded by mountains with an average altitude of over 1,500 meters. Many of Colombia's main rivers flow through here, providing abundant water sources and humid air. Cool monsoons form in the valleys, keeping temperatures from getting too high while blocking cold winds. Combined with the fertile soil brought by Huila volcanoes, the Arabica coffee here absorbs sufficient nutrients. Many Colombian coffee beans with complex aromas and fruit flavors come from this region.

Huila has a growing environment with large altitude differences, between 1,250-2,000 meters, resulting in two harvest seasons within the year. September-December is the main harvest season, while April-May is the secondary season. When coffee fruits mature, we can see local people busy hand-picking coffee fruits from coffee trees in the valleys, ensuring the integrity and ripeness of coffee cherries, resulting in stable quality coffee beans. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee has added washed Frontsteet Colombian Huila coffee to its daily bean series, hoping everyone can enjoy specialty Colombian coffee with guaranteed quality.

FrontStreet Coffee · Colombian Huila Coffee Beans
Region: Huila
Altitude: 1,500-1,800 meters
Processing: Washed
Variety: Caturra
Flavor: Nuts, dark chocolate, caramel, soft fruit acidity

Many friends new to the coffee world may often struggle with which coffee beans to buy, worrying about prices being too high, flavors not suiting their taste, or single packages being too large to finish without waste. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee launched the Frontsteet Daily Bean series, aiming to let friends who want to understand different coffee-producing regions taste the basic flavors of each region at the lowest price. Priced at 25 yuan per 100g bag, this allows you to taste the basic flavors of different regions while avoiding waste. In addition to Colombia, there are 6 other Frontsteet-selected classic regional flavor profiles: bright floral and fruit acidic Frontsteet Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, rich and robust Frontsteet Brazilian Cerrado, unique spiced Frontsteet Indonesian Lintong Mandheling, prominently sweet Frontsteet Costa Rican Tarrazú, and smoky lemon acidic Frontsteet Guatemalan Huehuetenango.

What Variety is Frontsteet Colombian Huila Daily Bean?

This Frontsteet Huila Daily Bean is of the Caturra variety, a natural mutation of the ancient Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1927 and widely cultivated in many Central American countries. Caturra inherits Bourbon's excellent genes, has weak disease resistance but higher yield per tree than Bourbon, and stronger adaptability. It can thrive completely without shade trees, even under direct sun exposure, allowing for intensive cultivation. This makes farmers prefer growing the Caturra variety.

Most importantly, Caturra performs very well in flavor. The higher the growing altitude, the better the coffee quality, with more obvious acidic aromas and brighter acidity.

Washed Processing

Since a large portion of Colombian farmers rely on coffee production for their livelihood, most local farms are equipped with specialized coffee depulping equipment. The depulped beans with parchment are placed in a tiled pool to ferment for about 24 hours. The acidic substances produced during fermentation cause the mucilage layer to fall off. After fermentation ends, the coffee is poured into flowing water channels to wash away surface residual mucilage. Finally, the wet parchment beans are spread flat on clean ground to dry until the coffee beans' moisture content reaches 12.5%, at which point they can be packed and await inspection.

Because washed processing completely removes the skin, pulp, and mucilage layers before drying, it maximally restores the coffee bean's own aroma, thus presenting the most fundamental flavor of the region. This is also why the vast majority of Frontsteet-selected Frontsteet Daily Beans use washed processing.

How to Brew Coffee with Colombian Flavor?

Before discussing brewing methods, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans. If you brew with old coffee beans that have been stored for a long time, the coffee's aroma may have already dissipated, making it difficult to restore the coffee's flavor even with the most precise brewing techniques. FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands the importance of freshness, so all shipped coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days, ensuring customers receive them in their freshest state.

For this Frontsteet Colombian washed Huila Daily Bean, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster hopes to retain a slight soft fruit acidity while highlighting rich nutty and chocolate notes, using a medium roast. FrontStreet Coffee's barista hopes to extract as much coffee aroma as possible, so chooses a relatively fine grind setting. Medium water temperature and a faster-flowing filter cup can avoid over-extraction.

Frontsteet Colombian Huila Daily Bean Brewing Parameters: 90°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, Chinese #20 standard sieve with 80% passing through, 15g coffee grounds, V60 dripper, three-stage extraction.

Three-stage extraction: First stage uses 30g water for a 30-second bloom, evenly circling to form a dome. Second stage injects 95g hot water. When the coffee bed drops to halfway, begin the third stage with 100g water until all coffee has finished dripping. Note to start pouring from the center point, using small water flow with gentle circling throughout to avoid uneven extraction.

Frontsteet Colombian Huila Daily Bean tastes of mellow chocolate and nutty flavors, with caramel aftertaste, light soft fruit acidity, overall clean taste, and balanced sweet and bitter notes.

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