How to Drink Colombian Pour-Over Coffee | Flavor Profile and Taste Characteristics of Colombian Coffee

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Introduction to FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian coffee represents one of the most outstanding varieties in the coffee world, a traditionally deep-roasted coffee with a rich and memorable flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian coffee boasts a rich and full-bodied aroma, complemented by bright, high-quality acidity and excellent balance. It sometimes features nutty notes with an endless aftertaste. Whether in appearance or quality, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian coffee is exceptionally superior.

FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian coffee is grown in high-altitude regions, where the roasted coffee beans release a sweet fragrance, characterized by excellent qualities of acidity with sweetness and balanced bitterness. Due to its appropriate concentration, it is often used in premium coffee blends. For instance, FrontStreet Coffee's premium blend incorporates Colombian coffee to highlight the hazelnut aroma in espresso.

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Colombian coffee flavor, with its soft fruity acidity, nutty aroma, and high balance, is deeply loved by the public. In recent years, with the development of the specialty coffee market, more and more special processing methods for coffee beans have emerged. Because Colombian coffee beans have balanced flavors and high variability, many special processing methods are widely used in Colombia. Most of the Colombian production area coffee beans offered by FrontStreet Coffee are mainly special processing methods. To enable new coffee enthusiasts to experience the most authentic original production area flavors at affordable prices, FrontStreet Coffee has included Colombian production areas in its daily bean series, aiming to help enthusiasts recognize that Colombia offers more than just specially processed beans.

Colombian Coffee Overview

Colombia is currently the world's third-largest coffee-producing country, surpassed only by Brazil and Vietnam. Commercial coffee cultivation began in the 1830s, and by the 20th century, coffee became the largest export agricultural commodity. The mountainous terrain combined with diverse tropical microclimates provides ideal growing conditions. 75% of the total production is exported abroad, making it the most important source of foreign exchange income.

Colombian coffee cultivation areas are located in the tropics, with climate varying by topography. The southern part of the eastern plains and the Pacific coast have a tropical rainforest climate, while mountainous areas at 1000-2000 meters altitude have a subtropical climate, and the northwestern region has a tropical savanna climate. Average annual temperature: 15.8-20.5°C. Coffee region average temperatures vary between 18°C and 22.5°C, with annual precipitation of 1000-2500mm. Although the annual rainfall in coffee-growing areas is high, some areas sometimes experience water shortages due to improper rainfall distribution or high evaporation rates. Due to latitude variations and the existence of 86 different microclimates between the southern and northern production regions of Colombia.

Coffee Production Regions

Colombia is most famous for production areas such as Medellin, Armenia, and Manizales, collectively known as "MAM." Colombia's premium coffee bean production areas are mainly in the south, at altitudes above 1500 meters, including Huila Province, Cauca Province, Nariño Province, and Tolima Province. Products from these areas all have refined acidic aromas and berry notes, with caramel aromas and full sweetness.

Santander and North Santander

The Santander production area is a famous region in northern Colombia, bordering the Magdalena River to the west, with cultivation altitudes of about 1400-1600 meters. Coffee beans from this region are known for their strong flavor, long aftertaste, and unique fresh herbal notes.

FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Rose Valley Coffee Beans

• Region: Santander, Colombia
• Estate: Big Tree Estate
• Altitude: 1700m
• Processing: Anaerobic Enzyme Washed
• Variety: Caturra

Huila Province

Huila Province is located in the southern part of the central mountain range in southern Colombia and is the country's most famous specialty coffee production area. This region consists of hills surrounded by mountains, with cultivation altitudes above 1500 meters. The most important rivers in Colombia converge here, bringing abundant water resources and moisture. Contrary to the common impression of Colombian commercial coffee as balanced and smooth, many smallholder micro-batch produced Colombian specialty coffees actually have distinct regional flavor characteristics.

In recent years, with the international market's emphasis on coffee quality and requirements for specialty coffee, the system of grading by bean size has gradually been abandoned, replaced by micro-regional selections from coffee smallholders organized by production area. Dozens of smallholders provide their individual harvests combined into one micro-batch for sale, which also provides better opportunities to select many high-quality specific smallholder coffees through batch-by-batch cupping.

FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Huila Coffee Beans

• Region: San Agustin Town, Huila
• Altitude: 1750-1950m
• Processing: Washed
• Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Flower Moon Night Coffee Beans

• Region: Estagardin Farm, Huila, Colombia
• Altitude: 1800m
• Processing: Anaerobic Natural
• Variety: Caturra

Cauca Province

Cauca Province is a Colombian coffee origin-certified production area with an average altitude of 1758m, with the highest altitude reaching up to 2100m. The region's topography, precipitation, temperature, and volcanic soil provide suitable conditions for coffee growth. 80% is mountainous, with parallel mountain ranges in the east and central parts, which are part of the Andes mountain range. The central mountain range includes two main volcanoes, Sotara and Petacas. Similar to other southwestern production regions, precipitation in Cauca shows a clear unimodal distribution, with the dry season mainly occurring from August to September each year. The subsequent rainy season brings a concentrated coffee flowering period, followed by a concentrated coffee harvest season the next year.

Nariño

The Nariño region is located in the southwestern corner of Colombia, merging the central and western mountain ranges of the Colombian Andes. Nariño Province has rich volcanic soil and good rainfall. Coffee is harvested there by locals. Nariño is surrounded by Tolima, Cauca, and Huila, which together constitute the southern planting region. Crops are harvested from April to June and from October to December. About 90% of the coffee in this area grows in full or partial shade. Altitudes reach up to 1750 to 2100 meters.

Tolima Province

Tolima borders Huila and Cauca, with the north-south trending Andes Mountains and Cordillera Mountains running through it. Between these two famous mountain ranges flows the Magdalena River from south to north.

The name Tolima comes from the people who first lived here, the "Pijao people." In the language of this ancient group, tolima means "snow-covered." Tolima farms are generally slightly larger than those in other southern Colombian production regions, about 10-15 hectares. Cooperative methods are also popular here, with farmers sending their small batches of fresh coffee cherries to cooperative processing plants. Some farmers also choose to process themselves, using their own small-scale facilities that can handle the day's harvest amount.

Caldas

Caldas is one of Colombia's main coffee-growing regions. Together with neighboring Risaralda and Quindío, it forms part of the "Coffee Axis" or "Coffee Triangle," indicating significant coffee activity in the region - from research to social support programs to freeze-drying to dry milling. In turn, it is part of the Coffee Cultural Landscape, listed by UNESCO as a World Coffee Cultural Heritage site. Caldas's rolling landscape is defined by slopes planted with coffee. High-altitude towns sit on ridges, where small farmers and medium-sized estates grow primarily single-variety coffee, protected from excessive sunlight by the region's nearly constant mist cover. Many programs of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation have their official seats in Caldas, including the Cenicafe research facilities.

Colombian Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Washed Processing

The harvested berries are processed through a depulping machine that separates most of the fruit pulp from the coffee beans, then the parchment beans are guided to a clean water tank, soaked in water for fermentation to completely remove the remaining pulp layer. In the past (about five years ago), washed processing was often the preferred method for high-quality coffee beans. Through water processing, unripe beans and defective beans are selected out due to buoyancy, and the fermentation process is easier to control. Therefore, unlike natural processed beans with off-flavors, washed processing presents distinct fruit acidity, slightly stronger complexity, and cleaner cup characteristics (without any negative flavors like astringency or sharpness). However, because it is too "clean," the richness of flavor is also slightly weaker.

Anaerobic Natural Processing

The entire coffee cherry first undergoes anaerobic fermentation, then natural drying. Basically, the anaerobic process makes coffee more uniform and easier to monitor; the aerobic process is more complex and harder to monitor. In an anaerobic environment, the decomposition speed of pectin sugars is slowed, and the pH value also decreases more slowly, extending fermentation time to develop better sweetness and more balanced flavors. The temperature controlled for anaerobic fermentation must be below 10-15 degrees. In a sealed and clean stainless steel fermentation container, coffee beans ferment for three days in an oxygen-free state.

Anaerobic Enzyme Washed Processing

Anaerobic enzyme washed processing removes defective coffee beans through washing, and finally places the processed coffee beans in a sealed container, injecting carbon dioxide to expel oxygen. In an oxygen-free environment, the decomposition speed of sugars in coffee pectin is slowed, and the pH also decreases more slowly, extending fermentation time to develop the coffee's better sweetness and more balanced flavors.

Double Anaerobic Washed Processing

After the coffee cherries are removed from the anaerobic environment, the skin and pulp are removed by machine, then the coffee beans with pectin are placed in plastic bags or other sealed containers in an anaerobic environment for a second anaerobic fermentation. The processing method that has undergone the above two anaerobic fermentations is called double anaerobic fermentation. After two anaerobic fermentations, the coffee beans are removed from the anaerobic environment and undergo washed processing to remove the pectin layer, then natural drying until the moisture content reaches about 11%.

Rum Barrel Fermentation

After the coffee cherries are washed, the washed beans are placed in oak barrels that have previously aged rum, with a resting time of up to three months. During this period, each barrel needs to be rolled daily to stir the coffee inside, allowing the beans to evenly absorb the aroma of the oak barrels that have aged wine. Because of the complete resting, the inherent characteristics of the beans become more distinct and complete.

Colombian Coffee Varieties

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, being more compact. Because it inherits Bourbon lineage, its disease resistance is relatively weak, but its yield is higher than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not suitable for growing in Brazil, so it was not cultivated on a large scale there, but became widely popular in Central and South America, with large-scale cultivation in countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Catuai is a coffee variety that is an artificial hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. Catuai has better resistance to natural disasters, especially wind and rain. The Catuai tree is relatively low-growing, and compared to other coffee trees, Catuai fruits grow more firmly and are not easy to harvest. The fruits come in both red and yellow. To date, no difference has been found where yellow fruits taste better than red fruits. On the contrary, some people have found in cupping that although coffee processed from yellow fruits has good acidity, the cleanliness of the coffee's mouthfeel is worse than that from red fruits.

Castillo is one of the most widely planted coffee varieties in Colombia, popular for its excellent resistance to leaf rust disease. Starting in 1961, CENICAFE began researching the Robusta-hybrid Timor variety. CENICAFE continued its research footsteps, releasing the second disease-resistant variety Tabi (a hybrid of Typica, Bourbon, and Timor) in 2002, and releasing the most successful disease-resistant variety to date, Castillo, in 2005. After the massive outbreak of leaf rust in 2008, Colombia began vigorously promoting the cultivation of Castillo.

Colombian Coffee Bean Grading (Graded by coffee bean size)

How FrontStreet Coffee Brews Colombian Production Area Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee uses a V60 dripper to brew Colombian coffee beans. The V60 conical dripper has a large opening, and its unique spiral ribs allow air to be discharged more easily, thereby improving extraction quality. The mouthfeel may not be as full-bodied, but its high concentration带来的 sweet and sour flavors and distinct aroma are its major characteristics.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameters

• Water Temperature: 90°C
• Grind Size: EK43s setting 10 (fine sugar size)
• Coffee Amount: 15g
• Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Technique

First pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95g more (electronic scale shows about 125g), finishing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (electronic scale shows about 225g), finishing in about 1 minute 40 seconds. Complete drip filtration between 1 minute 55 seconds to 2 minutes, remove the dripper, and complete extraction.

Brewing Flavor Profiles

Huila Brewing Flavor: Full-bodied with heavier texture. Features nutty, chocolate, and caramel aromas with smooth, pleasant fruity acidity.

Rose Valley Brewing Flavor: Surprising peach characteristics, accompanied by rose and liqueur chocolate aromas, rich and fragrant, drinking it is like drinking peach juice. It has both the high-quality sweet and sour taste of black grapes and the silky mouthfeel of cream toffee.

Flower Moon Night Brewing Flavor: Rich strawberry aroma, with strawberry acidity upon entry, jam-like sweetness in the middle, and a subtle cocoa aftertaste, with a juice-like mouthfeel.

Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473