A taste of Colombia’s black gold

By Sam Balf

Colombia's Arabica beans are some of the most sought-after coffee beans in the world. Credit: Flickr

Pomegranate, hazelnut, and dark fruits. Those are just some of the notes and flavours delighting the palette after a sip of an espresso from one of the largest coffee producing regions in the world.

Colombia has become a powerhouse in the world of coffee, with over 500,000 independent farmers supplying as much as 10 per cent of the global market with their varieties of Arabica beans.

The crop is a lifeblood to rural farmers, helping to industrialise the country with roads and electricity as early as the 1950s. The three million people who work in jobs associated with coffee are also heavily dependent on the commodity, making it a vital part of the Colombian economy.

The coffee beans grown in this region are a marriage of tradition and innovation that helps Colombia produce coffee that is regarded as some of the best in the world.

Every harvest, up to 70 per cent of the premium beans are selected and distributed to roasters worldwide, generating billions of dollars of revenue. Around 20 per cent of the production is used domestically inside the country.

The beans that didn’t quite make the premium standards are quickly bought by coffee merchants such as Starbucks, who use it in their instant blends or across their stores.

And yet wholesale coffee production hasn’t meant poor produce.  Fincas are passed down from generation to generation, each passing on his or her lifetime's knowledge to the next, who innovates and produces better quality coffee.

Colombia's average annual coffee production of 11.5 million bags is the third total highest in the world, after Brazil and Vietnam; though highest in terms of the arabica bean. Credit: Flickr

In 2011, UNESCO declared the coffee growing axis, sometimes referred to as Colombian’s Golden Triangle, a World Heritage site as a result of its importance in the history of coffee production.

“For Colombian’s their coffee is not just the richest coffee in the world, it is a national heritage,” proclaims Juan Valdez in a 1982 television ad. A fictional character created by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation in 1958, he has remained the symbol of coffee farmers in Colombia ever since.

The beans grown in Colombia’s coffee triangle are renowned for their quality, taste, and powerful aromas which have not been lost through the generations.

Thanks to being grown in the second most biodiverse region in the world, with a landscape of fertile valleys, rainforests, and over a dozen volcanoes, Colombian coffees when roasted correctly release a broad range of flavours and aromas. To a person who isn’t regularly drinking premium Colombian roasts, the flavours can be a revelation.

A quick espresso made with coffee grown at over 1,650 metres above sea level, tells the tale of this magical bean. The volcanic soils, perfect altitude and a diverse set of micro-climates bring out a creamy, almost peanut butter like flavour that makes you pause to contemplate and appreciate the delightful little drink.

“The Arabica beans that the region produces are some of the most sought-after coffees in the world,” says Stephen Hurst, a coffee trader based in London.

“Beans can grow just a few hundred metres from each other, and because of the effects of a hillside, or some volcanic soils, they end up producing completely different tastes. It’s like what Burgundy is to wine.”

The beans grown across the almost 1 million hectares of land in Colombia are processed with ingenious methods, making the most of the resources and limiting contamination of the land.

Coffee is typically harvested in two periods. First in September till December and then again a second harvest beginning in March, which is often followed by local festivals to mark the end of the coffee harvest.

New methods such as dry-pulping help the coffee retain more of its flavour and reduce water consumption by up to 95 per cent. This drying process is unique to Colombia, with farmers spreading their crop on the flat rooftops of their houses to be dried by the sun.

But to Colombians, coffee is more than just a drink or a commodity, and in recent times has been the fabric reuniting the country after a bitter guerrilla war that claimed the lives of over 170,000 innocent people.

Recently former members of FARC, the paramilitary group, have begun training as coffee farmers, millers and baristas in schools all across the country. The initiative is part of a drive to help ‘brew’ closer ties between former FARC guerrillas and the ordinary citizens of Colombia, highlighting again how important this crop is to the society as a whole.

Now, the growing trend by consumers in cosmopolitan capitals for higher end, premium Arabica has been a boon to the country and its coffee farmers.

Coffee trader Hurst says: “Farmers now plant a part of their crop in older varieties, such as a Typica or a Bourbon, which we buy after the harvest and roast, ready for distribution across Europe and the UK.”

“These varieties are somewhat of a novelty and consumers will end up paying more to the farmer.”

With over 2.2 billion cups of coffee sold in the UK alone every year, there’s a lot of opportunities for these niche beans to cash in.

An espresso-like drink that is served in small cups for just a few cents. Credit: Flickr

But what does your average Colombian drink in the mid-morning rush?

With a “un Tinto, por favor” at a vendor on the callé , they can order what literally translates as “inky water”, an espresso-like drink that is served in small cups for just a few cents.

Next time you’re at your local coffee house, ask your barista for a cup of Colombian coffee and taste the rich heritage that makes this coffee one of the best in the world.

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