When coffee became the most important agricultural product in Colombia, this puts the country as one of the top coffee producers in the world.
Many consumers recognize Colombian coffee as one of the best coffees in the world for its quality and delightful taste. Colombian coffee is very well marketed in the specialty coffee industry because of various factors that strongly influence the country’s highly esteemed reputation as a coffee producer.
In this article, let’s further explore what enabled Colombia to unravel its greatest potential for developing and cultivating one of the best-tasting coffees.
Colombia Historical Significance
Coffee was introduced in Colombia in the 16th century. During this period, the leaders of Colombia tried to encourage people to grow coffee, but they met with resistance. The reason for this is because the tree would take five years to provide its 1st crop.
The Colombians did not know how they were going to survive. A priest in a small village named Francisco encouraged people to plant at least three to four coffee plants. The planting, therefore, became a general practice in Columbia.
After several years, Colombia became the world’s second-largest coffee-producing country. They began exporting coffee in 1835 around 2,500 bags and later started exporting 170,000 bags to the US and Europe. Currently, Colombia exports around 11,000,000 bags of coffee in a year.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKW5bAj3mYs[/embedyt]Understanding Colombian Coffee Culture
In Colombia, coffee became an economic backbone for the country. The entire economy would collapse if they did not have this important crop.
And while there are 560,000 coffee Farmers cultivating the said product, people are most popular in drinking coffee.
A coffee drinking culture emerged in Colombia, where most of its citizens became obsessed with drinking coffee whipped cream and topped mochas.
Most of the people in the country drink their coffee at night. People visit coffee shops at around 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. and even in the late nights. Colombian drink the best coffee that the cold world offers. The beans of Colombian coffee are domestically grown, just like Kenya and Ethiopia.
Colombian Growing Conditions
Coffee almost prospers in tropical countries, but Colombia has something unique to offer that makes their crops one of a kind. Behind the superior quality of Colombian coffee is an excellent environment for coffee to grow and thrive.
The best coffees in the country are grown in a mountain region warm by 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. The changing climate can be a big concern to the growth of coffee in Colombia. And there should be many hours that the sun covers the area to ensure that their coffee production is doing great.
Also, poor climatic conditions in Colombia can significantly affect the quality of coffee. Fortunately, what makes Colombia perfect for growing coffee is its excellent geographical location along the coffee bean belt. This makes the country offer a great climate, high elevation, and ideal and rich soil that impact the growth and quality of crops.
Exploring Colombian Coffee Varieties
The type of coffee grown in Colombia is also of good and high quality. Colombians grow both Arabica and Robusta but produce mostly arabica beans.
The secret to the quality and taste of Colombian coffee lies within the type of bean itself. For example, while Vietnam is one of the top coffee-producing countries globally, this doesn’t make their crops the best. The thing is, the majority of Vietnam’s coffee produced is Robusta, which is likely less superior compared to Arabica.
Arabica is the primary type of coffee grown in Colombia because of many reasons. One of these aspects is the country’s most favored growing condition for the production of Arabica coffee. Arabica coffee is also mild in caffeine and therefore fit for consumption by many people.
Colombia sees this opportunity to dominate the industry by focusing on this variety. So, combined with the almost perfect growing condition and growing the best type of bean, this created the best coffee with light, fruity, and flowery flavors that many coffee lovers prefer.
To this day, Colombia produces the highest yield of Arabica coffee among producer countries. The production of 552,000 tons of coffee on 921,000 hectares accounts for 12% of the worldwide production of Arabica.
Colombian Processing Methods
The perfect location isn’t only the factor contributing to the quality of Colombian coffee. The proper way of cultivating the trees, harvesting, and processing the coffee cherries is also an essential aspect of maintaining delicious coffee.
The planting of coffee is usually the first thing that is done. The farmers select the best seeds for planting and are encouraged to follow the critical and acceptable practices. This is to ensure that the final product is the best. After planting, there is flowering.
The flowering process takes about four to six months. After this, the ripening of coffee beans begins. The process of maturation takes around six to eight months. When the coffee beans are ripe, they are manually harvested by the use of hands.
Colombian coffee is famous worldwide for its higher quality and delightful taste. The coffee beans are picked one by one to ensure that all the beans that are picked are ripe.
There are two methods of coffee processing. However, Colombia focuses mainly on the wet process because the country only grows Arabica beans.
In this process, the pulping then begins, whereas the pulps are separated from the coffee bean. Once done, fermentation and washing of the coffee beans come in.
Coffee beans are fermented in the process of drying the beans that are left out. Milling is the process that follows when this is done. The shells are removed from the coffee, converting them into green beans. The coffee is then filtered by size and quality. After this, the roasting process begins, which brings out the aroma and the flavors of the coffee.
What Does Colombian Coffee Taste Like?
Colombian coffee has a mellow acidity and a strong caramel sweetness with a nutty undertone. Besides being sweet, the coffee is also medium-bodied.
While the coffee is rated to be one of the best globally, Colombia has the most recognizable coffee flavor to most North Americans.
Flavor and the unmistakable mild but rich aroma that rises from every brew. Colombian beans are not bitter if the process of brewing is done correctly.
But again, Colombia has an almost perfect setting for developing the best potential of coffee beans. The rich, mildly fruity, and chocolaty flavor is due to the country’s ideal weather conditions. Also, the higher the altitude, generally the better the taste of the bean.
What makes Colombian Coffee so Special?
Colombian coffee is known to be the best in the world because of its superior quality and delicious taste. But behind these significant aspects are also the processes involved in the production of coffee.
The climatic conditions at which the coffee is grown are good. This adds to the advantage of ensuring quality. Coffee is a very sensitive crop and therefore requires an excellent climate suitable for the efficiency and the process to be efficient—the type of soil, together with the amount of rainfall in Colombia it’s perfect for the growth of coffee.
Colombia usually offers a cool to warm temperature, which is excellent since Arabica coffee prefers a temperature of between 20° to 24°C. The growing and harvesting processes of the coffee are also done excellently. This means that there are High chances of producing top-notch coffee.
The methods of collecting the coffee beans are executed skillfully. Trees and banana plants surround most coffee-growing areas. This means that the coffee beans cannot be affected by the harsh climate.
In the end, we can see that many factors contribute to the notion of this coffee being the best. Coffee produced under special geographic conditions, botanical origins, production practices, and so on also play an essential role in developing and delivering high quality coffee.
In Conclusion
Colombia is well-known for high-quality coffee production. The reason why this is done is because of the great things that are found in this country. The suitable climatic conditions, good soil, and good rainfall.
Colombia is well known for growing Arabica coffee because it’s considered one of the best types of beans. However, all the processes that are involved in the production of coffee are followed appropriately. After all, coffee is the main economic cash crop in Colombia that it’s grown to support the whole country’s economy.
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