What Are the Characteristics of Colombian Coffee?

Colombia, the third-largest coffee producer, is known for bright acidity, prominent sweetness and layered flavor. Beans run from Caturra to Colombia to Castillo, varieties developed by FNC and Cenicafe to resist leaf rust and berry disease. A single-origin lot can show rose aroma, strawberry jam and a chocolate finish as the cup cools.

Colombian coffee is almost entirely produced and exported through the National Federation of Coffee Growers, a non-profit association, which shapes grading and regional identity. Among major coffee producers, Brazil leans lower in acidity and heavier in body, while Colombia layers more. Blends of the two are common for espresso, adding nuts and body that pair well with milk.

Colombia is the world's third-largest coffee producer, and its coffee is renowned for its bright acidity, prominent sweetness, and rich flavor layers. From Caturra to Colombia to Castillo, behind the iteration of varieties lies the continuous effort of FNC and Cenicafe to combat leaf rust and berry disease. This article will sort out the variety evolution, main producing regions, and grading standards of Colombian coffee, and combine them with Front Street Coffee's brewing practices to help you understand why the coffee nurtured by the Andes can present rose aromas, berry jam, and a chocolate finish.

Customers often ask FrontStreet Coffee about choosing espresso blend beans, and one of the most frequently mentioned questions is that Front Street's Americano tastes different from that of other cafes. This is actually not hard to understand—different beans naturally produce different coffee drinks. Currently, the Warm Sun blend used in Front Street stores is composed of Honduras Sherry and Natural Red Cherry, with a rich fermented wine aroma, and is very popular among coffee lovers. However, when it comes to traditional-style espresso blends, Front Street also has reserves. In the early days of opening, Front Street used the solution common in most cafes on the market: Brazil blended with Colombia. The purpose of this combination is to strengthen the nutty notes in the espresso while enhancing the drink's body, making the coffee blend more smoothly with milk.

Because Brazil blended with Colombia has long occupied the mainstream blend position, many consumers mistakenly think that the coffee styles of these two producing countries are similar. In fact, the differences between Brazilian and Colombian coffee are quite obvious. In terms of flavor direction, Front Street believes that Brazilian beans have lower acidity and higher body; Colombian beans show richer layers. Take Front Street's Colombian single-origin Flower Moon Night as an example. It has a distinct rose aroma, with strawberry jam-like flavors standing out prominently. As the temperature drops, a fermented note can be felt, and the finish leans toward chocolate.

In terms of production, Colombian coffee currently ranks third in the world. The country's coffee is almost entirely produced and exported by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC). This is a non-profit commercial association representing more than 50,000 producers, the vast majority of whom are small family farms. Front Street once introduced the growing environments of Brazil and Colombia in detail when discussing their differences. Colombia's conditions can be called superior: low latitude, high altitude, and diverse surface topography together lay the foundation for coffee quality.

In "The Craft and Science of Coffee," it is mentioned that the two main varieties of Colombian coffee are Caturra and Colombia. In the 1960s, after Caturra was introduced from Brazil, it gradually replaced the earliest Typica; by the 1980s, the promotion of the new variety "Colombia" caused Typica production to decline sharply. Everyone is relatively familiar with Caturra, but what about the Colombia variety? It is actually a hybrid developed in the 1980s, with Caturra and Timor bloodlines. Friends who know about coffee may ask: isn't that Catimor? At the time, FNC insisted that although Colombia is a direct relative of Catimor, its flavor is far more elegant than ordinary Catimor, because after multiple generations of Arabica hybridization, its flavor has undergone a qualitative change.

The Colombia variety (Variedad Colombia) was developed by Cenicafe between 1968 and 1982, going through more than five generations, and is the result of a successful combination of Caturra and a Timor hybrid. This variety had already been bred before Colombia's first major coffee leaf rust outbreak in 1983. Although the new variety helped farmers survive the crisis, Cenicafe was still worried that other diseases could strike at any time, so it continued to improve. In the early 2000s, coffee berry disease (CBD) appeared in the country, further accelerating the pace of research. The results of these efforts are the two varieties Tabi and Castillo.

Castillo was officially granted to coffee growers in May 2005 and is the landmark achievement of FNC's "Rust-Free Colombia Program," which aims to restore and renew the production of high-quality Colombian coffee. Today, Castillo is the most widely planted variety in Colombia. Front Street's Sakura is a Castillo bean. According to FrontStreet Coffee's standard brewing recipe, a three-pour extraction is used:

Dripper: V60 #01

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Brewing temperature: 90°C

Grind size: medium-fine grind (78% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve)

First pour in 15 grams of coffee grounds, then add twice the coffee dose in water for blooming. After even heating, the coffee bed will swell into a proper dome. Wait 30 seconds, begin the second pour, spiraling from the center outward until about 125 grams. When the liquid level is about to expose the coffee bed, make the third pour, pouring until 225 grams. Extraction ends, with the total time controlled at about 2 minutes.

This Colombian coffee has a relatively prominent spice note, with a slight mugwort-like aroma, obvious berry jam flavor, and a strong fermented feel.

Colombian specialty coffee is mainly concentrated in the south, generally at altitudes above 1,500 meters, including San Agustin in Huila, Popayan in Cauca, Narino, and Tolima. Coffee produced in these areas usually has delicate floral aromas. The overall flavor characteristics of Colombian coffee are that both acidity and sweetness are distinct, accompanied by caramel aroma and ample sweetness. Its growing belt is also called the "Coffee Triangle," distributed along the Andes from south to north.

Main producing areas of Colombian coffee:

Antioquia - Medellin (18% of total production)

Tolima - Ibague

Caldas - Manizales (29% of total production)

Cauca Valley - Cali (13% of total production)

Huila - Neiva (5% of total production)

Cauca - Popayan (4% of total production)

Santander - Bucaramanga

Anyone familiar with coffee knows that altitude is closely related to quality. The higher the altitude, the thinner the oxygen and the lower the temperature, which lengthens the coffee tree's growth cycle and allows it to accumulate more sugars and aromatic substances. Because only high-quality coffee is allowed to be exported, FNC strictly controls every shipment and classifies coffee beans according to the following grades.

Supremo 18: large, smooth beans, properly screened on a No. 18 sieve, with a 10% allowance below that sieve but retained by a No. 17 sieve.

Supremo 17/18: large, uniform, and flat beans, retained above No. 17/18 sieves, with a 5% allowance below that mesh but retained by a No. 14 sieve.

Excelso EP 10% and 5%: flat beans, sized between large, medium, and small, retained above a No. 15 sieve, with 10% or 5% of beans allowed to fall onto No. 14/12 sieves.

UQG: "Usual Good Quality": below No. 14 sieve but above No. 12 sieve, with a maximum allowance of 1.5% of production.

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