Correct Flavor and Taste Descriptions of Different Colombian Coffee Bean Regions - Colombian Coffee Growing Areas

Introduction to Colombian Coffee Diversity

Coffee beans from different regions exhibit variations in flavor, and Colombian coffee is exceptionally diverse. Each of the 20 coffee-producing departments (out of a total of 32 in the country) produces coffee that is slightly different from the next.

In the northern regions of Santa Marta and Santander, lower altitudes and higher temperatures give coffee a rich aroma and deeper flavors.

In the central "coffee belt" of Antioquia, Caldas, Quindio, and other departments, coffee tends to be well-rounded with nutty and chocolate notes, mild sweetness, and rich acidity.

In the southern departments of Nariño, Cauca, and Huila, higher altitude coffees tend to have higher acidity, floral notes, and complex flavors.

Actually, this is not complicated - just as different coffee varieties have different flavors, like Blue Mountain coffee, Mandheling, and Geisha coffee, their flavor profiles are vastly different.

FrontStreet Coffee takes everyone to explore the main coffee producing regions of Colombia!

Antioquia

Antioquia has been the country's "Wild West" for many years, initially settled almost entirely by gold miners. In the latter half of the 19th century, coffee was introduced to the mountainous, fertile frontier of the department, and Antioquia became one of Colombia's most important coffee-producing regions, made possible by ideal coffee-growing conditions as the Central and Western mountain ranges (Cordilleras) pass through the department. As of the 1980s, coffee was the region's most important export product. Despite the department's ideal environment for specialty coffee production, it has been overlooked for years in Colombia's strong portfolio of coffee-producing regions. This situation is rapidly changing, partly due to the priorities of the department's current governor, Sergio Fajardo. Fajardo served as mayor of Medellín, the capital of Antioquia, a city that for years was known for violence and danger. Fajardo led a remarkable transformation of the city, making it a world-class tourist destination with a strong economy. Coffee (and value-added production by the department) has been at the core of this "makeover," and today, Antioquia is truly deserving of its place on the "coffee map." Of course, Mercanta and our partners in the region have certainly played a role here as well.

Cauca

Cauca's coffee includes the Inzá region and the area surrounding the colonial city of Popayán. This region is located on the "Macizo Colombiano" (Colombian Massif), which surrounds the high peaks of Tolima and Huila, and besides being a major coffee-growing area, is also an important source of water and wildlife.

Mercanta works primarily here with an innovative and progressive cooperative whose micro-lot separation program has inspired many other producer organizations throughout the country. Every lot of coffee delivered to the cooperative is cupped and scored, and those scoring 85 points or above by the association's cupping lab located in Pedregal are set aside for specialty blends or single-producer micro-lots. These strict standards result in a very limited quantity of a special blend of 70%+ Caturra and approximately 30% Variedad Colombia being available for export, and further highlight the work of individual producers whose coffee would previously have been lost in larger lots.

The region's past violence and significant presence of FARC guerrillas historically hindered the presence of the FNC (Colombian National Coffee Committee) and specialty-focused exporters in the region. With the reduction of violence, growers in the region have been able to seek greater access to quality markets, not only taking advantage of the region's wonderful coffee-growing conditions but also the economic resources brought by nearby tourist destinations (for example, the World Heritage site "Parque Nacional Arqueológico de Tierradentro"). In the future, Mercanta fully expects the region's coffee to get better and better.

Chocó

Most of Chocó's coffee is grown near the municipality of El Carmen de Atrato, separated by just a steep ridge from the fertile coffee-growing slopes of southwestern Antioquia. This region is rich in biodiversity and is also one of Colombia's most remote areas, historically suffering from violence and isolation due to the presence of FARC guerrillas.

Eastern Chocó was one of Colombia's most important coffee-producing regions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; however, much of the department is covered by dense, nearly impenetrable tropical rainforest that extends 100 kilometers eastward to the Pacific. Chocó's coffee-producing area is located within the mountain range that borders Antioquia, and with no other viable routes to transport coffee out of the department, virtually all coffee from Chocó is milled in Antioquia and, subsequently, traditionally sold as Antioquia coffee. Additionally, market access challenges have meant that Chocó has received less attention for its coffee in recent years than its eastern neighbor.

This neighbor (Antioquia) has recently celebrated government programs and success that have inspired many producers in the region to regroup their coffee production efforts. Their efforts have been supported by the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Andes (Cooperandes), a Colombian cooperative that works in five municipalities - Andes, Betania, Jardín, Cuidad Bolivar, Hispania (all Antioquia province) and El Carmen de Atrato (Chocó) - and has been very active in promoting the production of high-quality coffee in the region. Mercanta began sourcing from this region in 2015, and the signs for the future are very good as well.

Huila

Huila province is more remote than Cauca province; nevertheless, it is famous for the quality of its coffee and is rapidly becoming Colombia's largest coffee-producing region.

In Huila, Mercanta works primarily with a cooperative that works with producers near the town of Timaná in the southern part of the province. Every weekend during the harvest season in Huila, Asprotimaná members bring their parchment coffee to the town of Timaná. There, each coffee is analyzed and cupped by the association's professional team of cuppers, all of whom have been trained to the most rigorous standards. If the coffee comes from a grower who has previously produced very high-quality coffee, or if the coffee cups above 84 points, samples are sent to Mercanta's partner Santa Barbara Estate Coffee, whose dry mill is located in Medellín. There, the Santa Barbara team cups the coffee again. Only the best coffee samples from each harvest are sent to Mercanta for our own evaluation. During the 2014/15 harvest, Santa Barbara cupped more than 1,500 samples to select coffees that would be separated as micro-lots (10%) or included in regional blends (20%). Programs like this not only create better livelihood opportunities for small farmers in Huila but also create incentives for improving quality.

Nariño

Nariño is located in the southernmost part of Colombia, bordering Ecuador at the high peaks of the Andes Mountains. Due to its proximity to the equator, the department can grow coffee at very high altitudes, with many farms located on slopes above 2,000 meters above sea level.

The Nariño coffee region has multiple factors, such as 1,666 hours of sunshine per year, 1,866 millimeters (74 inches) of rainfall per year with a reliable rainfall pattern, and soil with a high percentage of organic matter, all of which make it possible to grow coffee at high altitudes and below-average temperatures.

If the heat that accumulates at the bottom of the canyon during the day did not rise at night to mitigate the cold in the high mountain areas, it would be almost impossible to grow coffee here. But in fact, it does make it possible to produce some very special coffee.

Santander

A lot of typica and shade-grown coffee is cultivated here, most of which is Rainforest Alliance certified. The department has a drier microclimate and lower growing altitudes.

Sierra Nevada

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range from the Andes, with peaks exceeding 5,000 meters. In the northern coastal region of Colombia, many coffee farmers in this department are part of the Arhuaco or Kogui indigenous tribes. Most of the coffee here is grown organically, either certified or passively grown.

Tolima

Southern Tolima has been a hotbed of FARC guerrilla activity for many years and has been a strategic area in Colombia's ongoing internal conflict. Much of the department is difficult to access, and producers who grow in the region tend to be very small in scale.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473