What are the Flavors of Colombian Coffee Nurtured by Volcanic Soil? Colombian Coffee Processing Methods

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Colombia is blessed with heavenly high mountains and good waters, featuring rich topography, clusters of volcanoes, fertile soil, and abundant rainfall. FrontStreet Coffee believes this is a natural paradise for coffee. From 2008 to 2011, Colombian coffee beans won the SCAA Cupping Competition for four consecutive years, which is even more impressive than the three consecutive wins of Panama Geisha coffee in the BOP Cupping Competition mentioned in the previous article starting from 2004.

Colombia straddles the northern and southern hemispheres, with coffee growing regions mainly distributed between 2-8 degrees north latitude. From north to south, various regions have two major harvest periods due to different rainfall patterns. The main harvest period runs from October to February of the following year, while the secondary harvest period is from April to September. In other words, Colombian coffee is harvested year-round. Colombia does not grow Robusta coffee beans, which allows Colombian Arabica coffee to reach an annual production of 12 million bags (each bag weighing approximately 60-70kg), making Colombia the second-largest Arabica-producing country.

Colombian Coffee Regions

Colombian coffee growing regions are divided into two parts. One part is located in central Colombia, mainly producing commercial coffee beans at low altitudes of around 1000m. This area is known as MAM, where M refers to Medellín, the capital of Antioquia Department; A refers to Armenia, the capital of Quindío Department; and the other M refers to Manizales, the capital of Caldas Department. Coffee beans produced in this central region have low acidity and rich body, with good sweetness, somewhat similar to the flavor profile of Indonesian Mandheling.

Another part is located in central-southern Colombia, where past SCAA Coffee of the Year winners originated. This area is dotted with volcanoes and is a specialty coffee bean region full of hidden treasures. This region includes Tolima, Cauca, Huila, and Nariño departments.

Huila Department

Located in the southern part of the Central Mountain Range in southern Colombia, this is the country's most famous specialty coffee producing region. This area 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 general impression of Colombian coffee as balanced and smooth, many small-farm micro-batch specialty coffees actually possess distinct regional flavor characteristics.

In recent years, with the international market's emphasis on coffee quality and demand for Colombian specialty coffee, there has been a gradual shift away from the original bean size grading system. Instead, micro-regional selections from small farmers organized by production area have become predominant. Dozens of small farmers contribute their individual harvests to form a micro-batch for sale. This approach provides better opportunities to select many high-quality specific farmer coffees through batch-by-batch cupping.

Tolima Department

Bordering Huila and Cauca, this area is traversed by the north-south Andes Mountains (M. Andes) and Cordillera Mountains (M. Cordillera), with the Magdalena River (R. Magdalena) flowing from south to north between these two famous mountain systems. The name Tolima originates from the "Pijao people," the earliest inhabitants of this area. In the language of this ancient group (Pijao word), Tolima means "snowed." Farms in Tolima are generally slightly larger than those in other southern Colombian producing regions, ranging between 10-15 hectares. Cooperative models are also popular here, with farmers delivering their small batches of fresh coffee cherries to cooperative processing plants. Some farmers also choose to process their own coffee using small-scale facilities that can handle the daily harvest amount.

Cauca Department

This is a Colombian coffee origin certification region with an average altitude of 1758m, reaching up to 2100m at its highest. The region's topography, precipitation, temperature, and volcanic soil provide ideal conditions for coffee growth. 80% of the area is mountainous, with parallel mountain ranges in the eastern and central parts, forming part of the Andes Mountains.

The central mountain range includes two main volcanoes, Sotara and Petacas. Similar to other southwestern producing regions, Cauca shows a distinct unimodal precipitation pattern, with a dry season mainly occurring from August to September each year. The subsequent rainy season brings concentrated coffee flowering, followed by a concentrated coffee harvest season the next year.

Nariño Department

Located in the southwest of the country, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the west and Ecuador to the south, the Andes Mountains run through the entire department. Coffee is grown in the high-altitude cloud forest belt between 1600-2300 meters, with fertile volcanic geology. The beans are small but full, with vibrant green color. The majority of Nariño's annual production is purchased by large American coffee merchants. Nariño Department is located in southwestern Colombia, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and Ecuador to the south. The Andes Mountains traverse this department, featuring magnificent mountain ranges and beautiful scenery, with many rivers flowing southward through this area. It belongs to Colombia's high-mountain coffee cultivation zone and has nurtured many small farmers of specialty coffee. Nariño's total annual production is about 150,000 bags, with only about 6,000 bags classified as specially selected beans.

Volcanic Ash Enhances Flavor and Body in Colombian Coffee Beans

From 2008 to present, the Huila volcano has revived, ejecting large amounts of mud and ash. Fortunately, no lava was ejected. Local coffee farmers are not worried; on the contrary, they hope these ashes continue to be ejected because volcanoes contain rich minerals that nourish coffee field nutrients, helping coffee develop more flavors and aromas. Some coffee farmers even believe that volcanic ash contributed significantly to Colombian coffee's frequent championship wins after 2008.

Coffee Varieties Cultivated

Any difficult-to-cultivate coffee varieties become comfortable and thrive in Colombia's fertile land, including Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Pacamara, Geisha, and more. Due to fertile soil and large day-night temperature differences, Caturra, which couldn't survive in Brazil, thrives in Colombia like a fish in water, producing abundant yields and becoming Colombia's main variety. In 1980, Colombia developed the multi-generation improved Catimor variety, naming it "Colombia" after the country, forming dual main varieties with Caturra. In 2002, Colombia launched the second-generation "Colombia" named Castillo, strongly encouraging farmers to switch to this new variety.

Caturra

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. Due to inheriting Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yield than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not suitable for growing there and therefore wasn't cultivated on a large scale in Brazil. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South America, with countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua extensively planting Caturra.

Colombia (Variety)

This variety has Caturra and Timor hybrid lineage, namely the notorious Catimor, but [FNC] insists that although Colombia is a direct descendant of Catimor, its flavor is far more elegant than typical Catimor because Colombia has undergone multiple generations of "backcrossing" with Arabica, eliminating musty flavors of robusta beans. The flavor more closely resembles Arabica while maintaining robusta's disease resistance and high yield advantages, making it a powerful tool for increasing Colombia's production.

Castillo

Castillo is the most widely planted coffee variety in Colombia, popular for its reputation for leaf rust resistance. Starting in 1961, Cenicafe began researching the Timor hybrid variety with Robusta lineage. 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 major leaf rust outbreak in 2008, Colombia began vigorously promoting Castillo cultivation.

Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Colombian coffee beans are mainly processed using the washed method. With the popularity of special processing methods and Colombian coffee beans' "all-inclusive" nature, more and more special processing methods are applied to Colombian coffee beans, with the most representative being anaerobic fermentation processing.

Washed Processing Method

Washed

Coffee farmers first pour harvested coffee cherries into large water tanks. Underdeveloped inferior beans will float to the surface, while mature, full fruits will sink to the bottom. At this point, the defective fruits floating on the surface are removed. Then, a pulp screener is used to remove the outer skin and pulp of the coffee fruit. At this point, the coffee beans still have a slippery layer of mucilage attached.

The mucilage-covered coffee beans are placed in fermentation tanks for 16-36 hours. During this process, microorganisms decompose the mucilage. After fermentation is complete, large amounts of clean water are used to wash away mucilage residues from the coffee beans. Finally, the cleaned coffee beans are dried in the sun.

Anaerobic Fermentation Processing Method

Anaerobic Fermentation

Anaerobic fermentation, as a novel taste experience, has various naming methods. Many people call it "anaerobic fermentation," while others call it "carbon dioxide maceration." Simply put, it's actually a fermentation method in a low-oxygen or oxygen-free environment. Generally, a pressure-resistant stainless steel tank is used, allowing control of temperature, time, pH value, and other data needed to control fermentation. The most famous anaerobic fermentation methods are anaerobic natural and anaerobic washed.

Anaerobic Natural Processing Method

Freshly harvested coffee cherries are placed in sealed fermentation tanks for low-temperature fermentation, which must be below 10-15 degrees Celsius. In an anaerobic environment, the decomposition rate of mucilage sugars slows down, and pH values decrease at a slower rate, extending fermentation time to develop better sweetness and more balanced flavors. After more than three days of anaerobic fermentation, the coffee cherries in the tank undergo sun-drying processing.

Anaerobic Washed Processing

Anaerobic washed processing removes defective coffee beans through washing, and finally places the processed coffee beans in a sealed container, injecting carbon dioxide to displace oxygen. In an oxygen-free environment, the decomposition rate of sugars in coffee mucilage slows down, and pH decreases at a slower rate, extending fermentation time to develop better sweetness and more balanced flavors in the coffee.

Anaerobic Double Enzyme Wash: This is based on anaerobic washing, adding special enzymes for secondary anaerobic fermentation. After coffee fruits are removed from the anaerobic environment, the peel and pulp are removed by machine, and the mucilage-covered coffee beans are placed in plastic bags or other sealed containers for another anaerobic environment, undergoing another anaerobic fermentation. This processing method, which experiences the above two anaerobic fermentations, is called double anaerobic fermentation.

Differences Between Anaerobic Natural and Anaerobic Washed Coffee Beans

Speaking of anaerobic processing methods, some friends might start wondering about the differences between anaerobic natural and anaerobic enzyme washed processing. FrontStreet Coffee uses the same Caturra variety - anaerobic natural processed "Kagetsuya" and anaerobic double enzyme washed "Rose Valley" - for comparison of raw beans, roasting, cupping, and brewing.

FrontStreet Coffee Raw Bean Comparison

In their raw state, anaerobic natural beans appear yellow-green with more silver skin; while anaerobic washed beans are blue-green with less silver skin. This is because washed beans undergo prolonged soaking in water during processing, causing the silver skin to separate from the coffee beans. When the parchment is finally removed, the outer silver skin is peeled off along with it, leaving very little silver skin residue on the surface of washed raw beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

These two new season beans have high moisture content. During the roasting process, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster extends the dehydration time to ensure even heating of both the bean surface and core.

Kagetsuya Roasting Suggestions

Considering that Colombian Kagetsuya uses anaerobic natural processing, medium roasting is adopted to preserve the bean's fermentation characteristics while showcasing full body and sweet flavors.

Yangjia 800N, bean input: 480g. When furnace temperature reaches 180°C, beans are added, damper opened to 3, heat at 130; return point at 1'42"; when furnace temperature reaches 140°C, damper opened to 4; when furnace temperature reaches 150.6°C, yellowing point at 6'20", at which time bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 180°C, heat reduced to 100, damper unchanged. At 8'45", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast smell clearly transforms to coffee aroma, can be defined as prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. First crack begins at 10'20", damper fully opened, develop for 1'50" after first crack, discharged at 196°C.

Rose Valley Roasting Suggestions

Considering that Colombian Rose Valley uses double anaerobic washed processing, medium roasting is adopted to preserve the bean's fruity notes and rich acidity while showcasing clean mouthfeel and sweet and sour flavors.

Yangjia 800N, bean input: 480g. When furnace temperature reaches 180°C, beans are added, damper opened to 3, heat at 130; return point at 1'36"; when furnace temperature reaches 140°C, damper opened to 4; when furnace temperature reaches 151.6°C, yellowing point at 6'00", at which time bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. At 8'17", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast smell clearly transforms to coffee aroma, can be defined as prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the first crack sound. First crack begins at 9'48", damper fully opened, heat reduced to 80 at 188°C; heat reduced to 50 at 192°C; develop for 2'10" after first crack, discharged at 197°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Reports

Kagetsuya Cupping Flavors

Dry Aroma: Berries, nuts, fermented aroma

Wet Aroma: Berries, strawberry, chocolate

Flavor: Strawberry jam, fermented wine aroma, chocolate

Rose Valley Cupping Flavors:

Dry Aroma: Fermented, berries, strawberry

Wet Aroma: Honey, juicy sensation, strawberry

Flavor: Rose, peach, liquor-filled chocolate

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tips

Dripper: Hario V60 #01

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Dose: 15 grams

Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-fine grind / fine sugar size (80% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also called three-stage brewing: Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds. When injecting water to 125g with small water flow in circles, perform segmentation. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue injecting water to 225g and stop. When water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom). Extraction time is 2'00"-2'10".

Kagetsuya Brewing Flavor: Rich strawberry aroma, strawberry acidity on entry, jam-like sweetness in the middle, subtle cocoa aftertaste, juice-like mouthfeel.

Rose Valley Brewing Flavor: Sweetness of peach, accompanied by rose and liquor-filled chocolate aroma, with both high-quality sweet and sour notes like black grapes and creamy toffee-like silky mouthfeel.

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