Colombia, with its exceptional geographical and climatic conditions, has become an important producer of high-quality Arabica coffee worldwide. This article systematically reviews the grading standards for Colombian coffee beans, from UGQ and EP to Supremo, explaining the meaning of the Excelso export grade and its screen size specifications; it also provides an in-depth introduction to the diverse microclimates formed by the three major mountain ranges of the Andes, the varietal composition including Caturra and Geisha, the washed processing method dominated by family farms, and the Huila specialty region that has gained much attention in recent years. Front Street Coffee uses the washed Huila everyday beans as an example to share the classic sweet and mellow flavor under medium-dark roasting and a KONO dripper brewing method, taking you through a complete picture of Colombian coffee from origin to cup.

Compared with other coffee-producing countries in Central and South America, Colombia enjoys exceptional natural endowments—vast arable land and rich topographic variation create diverse climatic conditions, laying a solid foundation for growing high-quality Arabica coffee. Below, Front Street will discuss the characteristics of Colombian coffee.

More than 500,000 people in Colombia are engaged in coffee cultivation, and the vast majority are small-scale operations. For these farmers, coffee is not only a cash crop for making a living, but also carries the hard work and harvest of generations of their families. During every harvest season, you can see them in the groves carefully picking cherries at just the right ripeness. The reason Colombia's coffee industry has been able to thrive is largely due to the efforts of the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (FNC).

The FNC is a non-profit organization founded in 1927, whose purpose is to protect the rights and interests of coffee producers. From variety research and development, cultivation techniques, harvesting standards, green bean processing to quality control, the FNC spares no effort in promoting knowledge at every stage, and insists on purchasing green beans from coffee farmers at the best price of the day, striving to fully unlock Colombia's "land potential" and "coffee farmer potential." On the commercial promotion side, the FNC created the classic image of Juan Valdez with his mule, making Colombian coffee famous worldwide.

Currently, Colombian green coffee beans are graded by screen size, usually using fixed-size screens for sorting, with different specifications corresponding to different aperture sizes. For example, if the mesh is 17 screen, beans larger than that size cannot pass through the screen, so the larger the screen number, the larger the particles remaining on the screen surface.

The most common grades on the market include UGQ, EP, and Supremo. It should be noted that no matter which screen-size grade the green beans belong to, as long as they are for export, they all fall under the Excelso grade. In other words, most burlap sacks of Colombian green coffee exported around the world today must be marked with the word Excelso—UGQ is Excelso, EP is Excelso, and Supremo is also Excelso. The Excelso export grade is currently the most widely adopted export standard by the FNC and is the highest grade for Colombian green bean exports.

Excelso UGQ 12*60 (1.5%): UGQ stands for Usual Good Quality. Green bean size is above 14 screen, with 1.5% of beans allowed to be between 12 and 14 screen, but must be larger than 12 screen, and more than 50% must be larger than 15 screen.

Excelso EP 12*60 (10%): EP stands for European Preparation. Green bean size is above 15 screen, with 10% of beans allowed to be smaller than 15 screen, but must be above 14 screen.

Excelso Supremo 12*60 (5%): Green bean size is above 17 screen, with 5% of beans allowed to be smaller than 17 screen, but must be above 14 screen.

In addition, Colombia also has an Extra grade above 16 screen, a Premium grade above 18 screen which is larger than Supremo, and Minama for green beans almost entirely concentrated at 15 screen, among others. Each farm reports a number and enters its green bean information for future traceability. Colombian exported green coffee beans are usually named in the form of "country + region + grade + other," for example, Front Street's Huila everyday beans green beans are Colombia Huila Supremo SC17/18 FNC.

Upon reviewing relevant information, Front Street found that Colombia's coffee-growing areas are mainly concentrated in the Andes Mountains. Located in western Colombia, the range is divided into three long stretches of highland belts. Each mountain can be called an "Eden" for Colombian coffee—the soil is rich in organic matter and fertile, coffee trees are planted at elevations of 800 to 2,300 meters, enjoying sunlight while also benefiting from proper shade provided by clouds. The climate types among the mountains are diverse, allowing harvests throughout the year, with different varieties ripening at different times, so busy picking figures can be seen in the groves in every season.

Colombia is vast and rich in products, and the coffee varieties within its producing regions are quite diverse. In addition to the high-quality varieties most common in Central America such as Caturra, Bourbon, and Typica, there are also disease-resistant varieties developed by Colombia itself, such as Castillo and Tabi, as well as "Colombia" named after the country. With the pursuit of varietal diversity, some local estates have also begun introducing popular varieties such as Geisha.

Colombia's producing regions have abundant water resources, and most coffee uses the washed processing method. Family-based farms are usually equipped with special green bean processing machines (Ecomill or Eco-Pulper). After pouring the harvested coffee cherries into the machine, not only are the skin and pulp removed, but most of the mucilage can be cleaned off with only a very small amount of water. The parchment beans with a small amount of residual mucilage then go into a small tank or container—possibly a tile tank—to rest overnight for fermentation, allowing the remaining mucilage to loosen, then are rinsed clean with water the next day, and finally spread out in the sun to dry to the target moisture content. The washing process significantly reduces the defect rate of coffee beans, preserves the beans' own flavor, and delivers higher cleanliness.

Located in the south, Huila is a popular specialty region in recent years, accounting for 12% of Colombia's total coffee production. The area is surrounded by mountains and hills, with elevations above 1,500 meters, where the Colombia River converges, providing abundant water for coffee tree growth. Unlike the classic rich and mellow flavor people traditionally associate with Colombian coffee, the Huila region is dominated by micro-lot coffee supplied by smallholders, and different microclimates and different green bean processing methods create unique flavor expressions. But Front Street believes that understanding a coffee origin should start with tasting the coffee's own flavor, that is, using natural processing methods: washed and natural. Front Street chose washed Huila coffee as the representative of Colombia, using medium-dark roasting to restore the classic Colombian sweet and mellow taste.

FrontStreet Coffee: Colombia Huila Coffee Beans

Region: Colombia Huila

Altitude: 1,500-1,800 meters

Processing method: Washed

Variety: Caturra

Flavor: Nuts, dark chocolate, caramel, soft fruit acidity

In terms of brewing, Front Street considered that this Huila everyday bean is roasted to a medium-dark level, with a flavor leaning toward the rich, mellow tone of nuts and chocolate. Deeper roasting makes the coffee beans more porous and the coffee grounds more water-absorbent. To avoid over-extraction, Front Street uses a medium grind size and medium water temperature, paired with a KONO dripper for extraction.

Brewing parameters: KONO dripper, 90°C water temperature, grind size with 75% passing a No. 20 standard sieve, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, dose: 15 grams, three-stage extraction

Pour the coffee grounds into the V60 dripper, wet the coffee bed with twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds, form a dome and bloom for 30 seconds, then pour in a thin stream in circles from the inside out until 125 grams and pause, wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the height of the dripper, continue pouring the third stage with the same thin stream to 225 grams, until all the coffee liquid has filtered through, remove the dripper, total time about 2 minutes.

This Colombian Huila everyday bean has obvious roasted aromas of chocolate, nuts, and caramel on the palate, smooth and sweet, with moderate body and a clean mouthfeel; as the temperature drops, a pleasant soft acidity can be felt.

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