What Makes Huila Coffee Beans Stand Out?

Huila has become one of Colombia's most recognized growing departments, partly because its topography ranges from roughly 1,200 to over 2,000 meters. Small farms dominate, and many pick and sort cherry by hand before delivery to a local mill. The result is a dependable regional profile, and huila coffee often shows up in competitions and specialty roaster lineups for its clarity and balance.

The Flower Moon Night beans from Acevedo Jardin Farm in Huila use an anaerobic natural process built on the Caturra variety. The cup shows strawberry jam, cranberry, and liqueur chocolate. Huila sits at the southern end of the Central Cordillera, a hilly zone where planting altitude generally exceeds 1,500 meters, which supports that sweet, fruity Colombian coffee taste.

The Colombian coffee industry is currently facing the challenge of a shortage of picking labor due to the pandemic. At the same time, the Huila growing region remains highly regarded for its balanced flavor and rich fruity notes. The Front Street Coffee-obtained Acevedo Jardin Farm Flower Moon Night coffee beans use the anaerobic natural processing method and are based on the Caturra variety, displaying complex flavors such as strawberry jam, cranberry, and liqueur chocolate. This article will guide you through the latest developments in the Colombian growing regions, provide an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of the Huila region, the processing method and cupping performance of Flower Moon Night coffee beans, and share Front Street Coffee's roasting and brewing insights.

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A BBC report pointed out that Colombia's coffee industry is currently in the peak picking season, yet has encountered a severe labor shortage because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A farm manager revealed that, given the additional risks brought by COVID-19, a large number of temporary pickers have chosen not to come. Coffee picking is extremely physically demanding, and "there is neither a fixed income nor health insurance." Even if some workers can earn three times the minimum wage, the pay still does not match the labor intensity, so many temporary workers are unwilling to take this risk.

At present, the core difficulty producers face is how to race against time to harvest all coffee cherries in time. Cold and rainy weather has slightly slowed the ripening process, which has allowed many Colombian farms to avoid potentially major losses caused by a shortage of manpower. However, if the labor shortage continues, many farms may still not be so lucky.

Huila Coffee Growing Region

Huilan

This Flower Moon Night coffee bean obtained by Front Street comes from Acevedo Jardin Farm in the Huila coffee growing region of Colombia. Huila Province is located at the southern end of Colombia's Central Cordillera and is the country's most famous specialty coffee region. This area is a hilly zone surrounded by mountains, and the planting altitude generally exceeds 1,500 meters. The coffee beans produced here can reach Supremo, the highest level in Colombia's coffee grading system. Coffee beans of this grade are large in size, full in shape, and extremely low in defective beans and foreign matter.

Through cupping many coffee beans from this region, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) found that their flavor performance is balanced, with intense acidity, relatively full body, and commendable fruity flavors. It is precisely because of this balanced flavor performance that more and more special processing methods are being applied to Colombian green coffee beans.

Acevedo Jardin

Finca La Acevedogatin

Acevedo Jardin Farm is located in Acevedo, Huila Province. The estate owner, Ramirez, was born into a coffee-growing family. He devoted himself to coffee production starting at the age of 18 and once worked in coffee-related professional work in Acevedo. After that, he bought a farm and began growing coffee himself, but at that time most of what he planted were common mainstream varieties. Later, he sold his original coffee farm and instead bought this farm named Acevedo Jardin, specifically to grow the Caturra variety.

Caturra Variety

Caturra

Caturra is a Bourbon mutation. The coffee bean has a curved tail and a round yet slender shape, and its productivity and disease resistance are both better than Bourbon. It is suitable for planting in areas from low altitudes of 700 meters to high altitudes of 1,800 meters, showing a very wide altitude adaptability range, but the higher the altitude, the better the flavor, while the yield decreases accordingly. Acevedo Jardin Farm is 1,800 meters above sea level. Although the yield is not high, the coffee beans produced here carry rich fruity aromas such as pineapple, mango, lychee, and honeydew melon.

Anaerobic Natural Processing Method

Natural Anaerobic

The farm's previous owner launched a special processing program three years ago and instructed Ramirez on how to carry out special processing projects. With his passion for coffee cultivation, Ramirez changed the original fermentation process that could not achieve the expected results and instead adopted the anaerobic fermentation processing method that has become popular in recent years.

This method involves injecting carbon dioxide into a sealed container and expelling the oxygen inside. In an oxygen-free environment, the decomposition rate of sugars in the coffee mucilage slows down, and the pH value drops more slowly as well, thereby extending the fermentation time and developing better sweetness and a more balanced flavor. The anaerobic natural processing method used for this Front Street Colombia Flower Moon Night coffee bean obtained by Front Street means that after anaerobic fermentation ends, the fermented coffee beans are dried by the natural method. After the moisture content drops to 11%, the skin, pulp, and other parts are then removed mechanically.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Roasting Insights

Considering that Front Street Flower Moon Night coffee beans use the anaerobic natural processing method, in order to retain Front Street Flower Moon Night's own fermented character while also presenting a full body on the palate and sweetness in the flavor, Front Street's roaster adopted a medium roast profile.

Yangjia 800N, bean loading amount: 480g. Charge when the drum temperature reaches 180°C, set the damper to 3, and the gas to 130; the turning point is 1'42"; when the drum temperature reaches 140°C, set the damper to 4; when the drum temperature reaches 150.6°C, the yellowing point is 6'20", at which point the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, and the dehydration stage begins; at 180°C, reduce the gas to 100 and keep the damper unchanged. At 8'45", ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, it is necessary to listen clearly for the sound of the first crack point. First crack begins at 10'20"; open the damper fully, develop for 1'50" after first crack, and drop the beans at 196°C.

[Front Street Flower Moon Night] Cupping Record

Dry aroma: berries, fermented ripe fruit

Wet aroma: fruit jam, liqueur chocolate

Flavor: strawberry jam, cranberry sweet-tartness, fermented ripe fruit, liqueur chocolate

[Front Street Flower Moon Night] Brewing Insights

Dripper: Hario V60 #01

Water temperature: 90°C

Coffee dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: medium-fine grind (77% passing through a No. 20 sieve)

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) segmented extraction method: first use 30g of water to fully wet the coffee bed into a "hamburger" shape and bloom for 30s (if no "hamburger" shape appears, we should pay attention to whether the coffee beans are not fresh enough or the grind is too coarse); for the second pour, at 50s on the timer, pour water until it reaches 125g, then stop and wait until the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed before pouring the third stage; for the third stage, at 1'40" on the timer, pour water until it reaches 225g, and after the coffee liquid has completely dripped through, the total extraction time is 1'55". After extraction is complete, gently swirl the coffee, and taste only after the coffee liquid is fully uniform.

[Front Street Flower Moon Night] Brewed flavor: first comes the sweet fragrance of strawberry jam and the fermented feel of ripe berries. After entering the mouth, the acidity of cranberry and the juicy berry sensation spread to every corner of the oral cavity, followed immediately by a liqueur-chocolate-like finish that appears in the nasal cavity.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.