Colombian Coffee introduces the Colombian coffee grading system in the producing area of Colombian boutique coffee.

Colombian caffeine has a mild and rich aroma in the coffee circle has an excellent reputation, perennial ranking in the world's coffee exports, as long as the mention of high-quality coffee, there is no lack of Colombia. Colombian coffee beans are on the front street bean list, both hand-brewed and Italian-style, which shows how popular it is.

Why is Colombian coffee so popular?

Like many crops, the quality of coffee beans is affected by varieties, climatic conditions, altitude, managed harvesting, post-treatment and other factors. Coffee is a tropical cash crop and is suitable for growing at high altitudes and without frost. For every 100m increase in altitude, the temperature drops by 0.6 ℃. Lower temperatures and oxygen content can cause coffee beans to ripen more slowly. In this state, most of the nutrients of the coffee tree provide the fruit, the beans are denser and harder, and there is more time to absorb and store nutrients in the form of sugar. The Andes in Colombia meet such "harsh" conditions.

The Andes are located in the western part of Colombia and are divided into three stretching mountains. Each mountain is rich in fertile soil with organic matter, and coffee trees are planted on land 800m to 2300 meters below, enjoying the sun and proper shade from the clouds. The diverse climate in the mountains makes it a harvest season all year round, and different kinds of coffee will mature at different times, so we can see busy picking in the forest in every season. Local growers usually plant coffee trees under shade trees, mostly tall trees or banana trees. Build an Arbor for coffee trees at the seedling stage to ensure the cool and humid environment needed for coffee growth. Due to the high humidity, small temperature difference and slow ripening of coffee beans in the coffee forest, it is conducive to the accumulation of caffeine and aromatic substances, so the quality of coffee is the best.

Of course, the secret of the success of Colombian coffee is more than its unique geographical environment. As a local national drink, coffee farmers' love, research and dedication to coffee are unmatched by other coffee producing areas. In recent years, with the development of the industry, Colombian coffee has shown excellent rich taste with the addition of manual fruit selection, fine fermentation and professional cup testing knowledge, which has naturally become the first choice for coffee friends.

Where does Colombian boutique coffee come from?

The early Colombian coffee was exported after being named after the local producing area. at that time, even beans with boutique coffee grade appeared in local micro-batches. Small farmers in Colombia do not grow on a large scale, and there are very few small farmers with their own processing equipment. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the local coffee industry has flourished, thanks to the establishment of Federaci ó n Nacional de Colombia (FNC, Colombian National Coffee Federation).

FNC is the only official coffee professional association in Colombia, representing more than 560000 families of coffee farmers and has become one of the largest agricultural NGOs in the world. FNC promotes the brand image of Colombian coffee around the world and oversees the quality of every coffee exported from Colombia. Not only in the international market promotion, but also in Colombia also invested a lot of manpower and material resources to farmers planting production, management and sustainable operation.

Thanks to the management and security of FNC, about 875000 hectares of coffee have been grown in 590 cities and 14 coffee-growing areas in Colombia, mostly from small coffee farms. The planting area of small farmers in Colombia is basically about 2-3 mu. Small farmers send coffee to the coffee processing station in the community for washing, or set up equipment for raw bean treatment at home, and finally send it to the test grade.

It can be seen from the map that the producing areas of Colombian coffee are quite distinct, divided into three regions from south to north, northern, central and southern. Colombia's boutique bean producing areas are mainly in the south, more than 1500 meters above sea level, including San Augustin (Huila) in Huilan province, Popayan (Cauca) in Cauca province, Nari ñ o province, and Tolima province, where products have delicate sour and berry aromas, as well as caramel aromas.

Colombia grows a wide variety of coffee, most of which are traditional Arabica species, such as Kaddura Caturra, Bourbon Bourbon, Ironpickup Typica, Pacamara Pacamara and so on. Of course, there are also some popular rare varieties, such as Rosa Gesha, which have appeared on the market in small quantities in recent years. The Colombian rations beans selected from Qianjie are from Huilan, and the coffee varieties are widely grown in Kaddura, which is naturally washed and roasted with a balanced taste of sweet and sour.

In Colombia, the bigger the coffee beans, the better?

Colombian coffee beans before export are graded according to the number of eyes, usually with a fixed size sieve, and different specifications correspond to different hole sizes. For example, the size of the mesh is 17 mesh, and beans larger than this size cannot pass through the screen, so the larger the number of the screen, the larger the beans left on the screen. The most common export grades are UGQ, EP and Supremo.

Regardless of the size of raw beans, as long as raw beans are exported to Excelso, in other words, most Colombian coffee sacks of raw beans exported to all parts of the world must be marked with Excelso. Excelso export grade is the most widely used export standard grade of FNC and the best export grade of Colombian raw beans. Excelso grade coffee needs to meet: 500g raw beans, the size should be more than 14 mesh, and no more than 5% of raw beans are allowed to be between 12 mesh and 14 mesh, in general, 50% of raw coffee beans must be larger than 15 mesh. No pest, uniform color, no peculiar smell, clean flavor. The moisture content shall not exceed 12.5%, and the cumulative defect shall not exceed the limit of 24 points.

Each farmer will report the number and enter the raw bean information, so as to facilitate the traceability of the raw bean in the future. The raw coffee beans exported from Colombia are usually named as country + producing area + grading + other. For example, the raw bean of Qianjie Huilan grain bean is Colombia Huila Supremo SC17/18 FNC.

How does Colombian coffee taste good?

The flavor description of each coffee on the front street is based on freshly roasted beans. If the beans have been stored for more than a month, the aroma is likely to have been lost and it is difficult to restore when brewed. Qianjie is also well aware of the importance of freshness, so it will ensure that only coffee beans freshly roasted within 5 days are shipped, so that everyone can enjoy the most complete taste period when they receive it.

Considering that Huilan food beans are roasted in medium depth, the flavor tends to be full-bodied and mellow, and the deepening of roasting makes the texture of coffee beans looser and coffee powder more absorbent, so it will choose medium grinding. In order to avoid excessive miscellaneous flavor extraction, Qianjie will lower the water temperature a little bit, medium water temperature of 90 degrees Celsius, with KONO filter cup for extraction. Unlike the V60 filter cup, the only exhaust part of the KONO filter cup is in the 1/4 ribs. When the water level passes over the ribs, the water volume of the filter cup continues to rise, increasing the pressure through the weight of the water. Because the outlet is relatively small, it can prolong the contact time between coffee particles and water, and bring out the soluble matter more effectively as the water is injected, thus improving the mellow and full-bodied taste of coffee.

Cooking parameters: KONO filter cup, water temperature of 90 degrees Celsius, screening rate of No. 20 standard sieve 75% grinding degree, ratio of powder to water at 1:15, powder quantity: 15g, three-stage extraction

Pour the coffee powder into the V60 filter cup, wet the powder bed with twice as much water as the coffee powder, form a drum and steam for 30s, then fill the small water from the inside to the outside to 125g, wait for the powder bed to drop to half of the filter cup, and continue to pour the same fine water into the third section to 225g, until all the coffee liquid has been filtered and remove the filter cup for about 2 minutes.

This Colombian Huilan food bean has obvious chocolate, nut, caramel and other baking aromas, smooth and sweet, mellow thickness, clean taste and pleasant soft acidity as the temperature drops.

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