What Makes Huila Coffee From Colombia Stand Out?

Huila, in southwestern Colombia beside the Huila volcano, produces coffee above 2,000 meters on smallholder farms that rarely exceed 1.5 hectares. Volcanic ash renews the soil, rainfall is steady through the year and temperatures stay mild, so beans develop bright acidity and chocolate aromas. The region entered green bean competition lists in the 21st century and gained designation of origin certification in 2013.

Most Huila lots are Caturra grown under shade trees, hand-picked at peak ripeness and washed after harvest. Growers plant shade trees to create a more even growing environment, which supports quality across small plots. Front Street Coffee selects its Colombian everyday beans from here, and the medium-dark roast works well in a KONO dripper, a practical example of planting coffee trees paying off.

Colombian coffee has long held an important place on the specialty coffee stage, thanks to its long growing history and the superior terroir that stretches across the Andes. Among its regions, Huila has frequently appeared on green bean competition lists since the 21st century and received official designation of origin certification in 2013. This article will explore the growing environment around the Huila volcano, the smallholder production model, the characteristics of the Caturra variety, and the washed processing flow, while also sharing how Front Street Coffee selects everyday beans and the specific approach and parameters for brewing medium-dark roasted Huila coffee with a KONO dripper, giving you a comprehensive understanding of the flavor foundation of this classic region.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee)

Colombia's coffee-growing history is quite long, and its exceptional geography and climate provide coffee trees with a growing environment that is hard to replicate, with producing regions stretching along the Andes. When it comes to specialty coffee, Front Street cannot fail to mention the Huila region, which often appears in various competitions; Front Street's Colombian everyday beans are selected from here.

Huila

The Huila region truly came into the public eye after entering the 21st century, repeatedly appearing on the award lists of various green bean competitions, and in 2013 it obtained official designation of origin certification. The name Huila comes from Huila Department, located in southwestern Colombia on one side of the Andes, adjacent to the Huila volcano. The volcanic ash left by eruptions replenishes the soil with fresh nutrients, which is especially beneficial for coffee tree growth. Compared with other regions, Huila has rainfall throughout the year and relatively mild temperatures; such growing conditions allow coffee trees to be cultivated at altitudes above 2,000 meters, and coffee nurtured at high altitude has bright acidity and chocolate aromas.

Huila coffee is mainly produced by smallholder farmers, and local farms generally do not exceed 1.5 hectares. Growers plant shade trees to create a more ideal growing environment for coffee, thereby ensuring quality. When the coffee cherries ripen, Colombians pick the ripest and fullest fruits and complete post-processing at the freshest stage, striving to maintain the freshness of the coffee at every step.

Washed processed Huila coffee

Much of the Colombian coffee available on the market today uses special processing methods, presenting very concrete aromas. Front Street believes these coffees also taste very good, but if you want to experience the most original aromas of Colombian coffee, Front Street suggests starting with the two natural processing methods: washed and sun-dried.

Colombia is very rich in water resources and highly suitable for washed processing. Family-based farms are usually equipped with dedicated green bean processing machines (Ecomill or Eco-Pulper). Farmers pour the harvested coffee cherries in, which removes the skin and pulp, and only a very small amount of water is needed to carry away most of the mucilage. The parchment beans with a small amount of remaining mucilage are placed in a small tank or container, possibly a tiled tank, and left to ferment overnight so the residual mucilage loosens. The next day they are rinsed clean with water, then spread out in the sun to dry to the target moisture content.

Washed processing ensures high coffee quality and also allows Huila coffee to show its most authentic flavor characteristics. This is also why Front Street prioritizes washed lots when selecting everyday beans, and the variety used is the widely locally grown Caturra.

Caturra

Colombia grows a rich variety of coffee plants, mainly traditional Arabica varieties such as Caturra, Bourbon, Typica, and Pacamara, and of course some popular rare varieties such as Geisha, which have appeared on the market in small batches in recent years.

Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. With high yield and relatively good disease resistance, it is very suitable for large-scale cultivation. Caturra plants are relatively short, making harvesting convenient, and they remain vigorous even under direct sun exposure, which is why farmers call it Sun Coffee. Caturra is suitable for planting from low altitudes of 700 meters to high altitudes of 1,700 meters, with strong altitude adaptability, but the higher the altitude, the better the flavor, while productivity decreases accordingly.

The washed Huila everyday beans have both soft acidity and moderate body and sweetness. Front Street wanted to present the classic Colombian nutty profile while retaining some acidity, so it chose a medium-dark roast. Before launching any coffee bean, Front Street conducts at least one cupping evaluation, as cupping allows us to present the coffee's strengths and weaknesses more objectively.

How should this everyday bean be hand-brewed?

Considering that the Huila everyday beans use a medium-dark roast, with flavor leaning toward rich, full-bodied notes like nuts and chocolate, the deeper roast makes the coffee beans more porous and the coffee grounds more absorbent, so a medium grind is chosen. To avoid extracting too many off-flavors, Front Street slightly lowers the water temperature, using a medium 90°C water temperature with a KONO dripper for extraction.

Unlike the V60 dripper, the KONO dripper's only exhaust area is that one-quarter of ribbing. When the water level rises past the ribbed area, the water volume inside the dripper keeps increasing, and the weight of the water increases pressure. Because the outlet is relatively small, it can extend the contact time between coffee particles and water, and as water is poured in, soluble substances are more effectively brought out, thereby enhancing the coffee's full-bodied, rich mouthfeel.

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

Pour the coffee grounds into a V60 dripper, wet the bed with twice the coffee grounds' weight in water, and let it bloom for 30s to form a dome. Then, with a small stream, pour in circles from the inside out until 125g, pause, and when the bed drops to half the height of the dripper, continue pouring the same thin stream for the third stage to 225g, until all the coffee liquid has filtered through, then remove the dripper. The time is about 2 minutes.

This Colombian Huila everyday bean has obvious roasting aromas of chocolate, nuts, and caramel on the palate, smooth and sweet, with moderate body, a clean taste, and a pleasant soft acidity as it cools.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee)

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