Colombian Coffee Culture and Quality: Is Colombian Coffee Black Coffee?

Coffee farmers worldwide are dedicated to producing high-quality coffee beans. Cupping allows them to connect with green coffee buyers who prioritize bean quality, thus securing better income while avoiding price exploitation by middlemen. In recent years, Fair Trade coffee cooperatives have consistently achieved outstanding results in international cupping competitions (such as Nicaragua's Aldea Global, Peru's Cecovasa, and Ethiopia's YCFCU). Over the past three years, 28 Fair Trade certified coffee products have received the prestigious Great Taste Awards from Britain, often referred to as the "Oscars of the food industry."

Colombia is located in the northwestern part of the South American continent, bordering Panama in Central America. Its western coastline resembles scratch marks from a cat's paw, leaving three vertical lines from north to south. The country's renowned growing regions are scattered throughout these Andean mountain ranges (Cordillera) with their fertile volcanic soil.

According to legend, coffee was introduced by missionaries in 1730 from Venezuela and initially cultivated in the southeastern part of the country. Later, due to civil wars and political reasons, cultivation gradually shifted to the western mountainous regions. In the ideal growing environment of high altitude and volcanic soil, Colombian coffee has been favored by premium consumers in the United States and Japan since the 1940s. Beyond natural advantages, there's another primary reason why Colombian coffee surpasses Brazilian quality: family-run operations. These farmers lack heavy machinery for harvesting and irrigation, nor can they afford to hire workers—all coffee cherries are hand-picked only when fully ripe. They cherish their land, practicing moderation when selecting fertilizers and clearing land, resulting in minimal soil fatigue. In addition to coffee, they also grow other crops for consumption or supplementary income. All these practices contribute to maintaining the ecological balance.

The Huila region in southwestern Colombia is a producer of excellent coffee, along with the Narino and Tolima regions. Nearly all top 10 finalists in Colombia's annual coffee competitions come from these three regions, which are similarly characterized by small-scale coffee farmers with limited production and cultivation areas. The La Esperanza estate is located in the Huila region. Unlike individually or family-owned coffee farms, this estate represents a collective of several coffee farmers who sell under the unified name of La Esperanza. The estate is situated in forests at elevations between 1,400-1,650 meters, where fully mature coffee beans are harvested by hand. The farmers maintain good growing environments and persistently control the quality of their green coffee beans. La Esperanza was the champion estate in the 2007 Colombia Coffee Competition and also secured 9th, 12th, and 14th places in 2008 (by different coffee growers). In November 2008, it received an impressive score of 93 from American coffee master Kenneth Davids (author of Coffee Review and "Home Coffee Roasting"), establishing it as one of Colombia's premier estates.

Colombia hosts a renowned green coffee competition—the Cup of Excellence in Cauca. FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Cauca coffee bean emerged from this competition. When brewed with 90°C water, it exhibits pleasant plum acidity with prominent overall sweet and sour notes.

In Brief: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research hall dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation simply to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Each month, we host three low-discount coffee events because FrontStreet Coffee wants to enable more friends to enjoy the best coffee at the lowest possible prices. This has been our mission for the past six years!

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