Colombia

The different cordilleras of the Andes mountains run vertically through the western half of the country. These mountains offer an endless variety of high tropical terroirs.

Colombia’s most affordable blended coffees are reliably bright, creamy, enzymatically complex, and marmalade-like in profile. The country’s best coffees, from carefully curated regional blends to single bag microlots, are indescribably diverse. Flavors include anything from lemongrass and green tea to plum jam and melted chocolate, to jasmine and rose, to winey fruit.

No summary of flavor profiles will do any coffee country justice. However, doing so for Colombia is particularly futile. This is because of many factors, including:

• Distance between different departments
• Elevations
• Microclimates
• Processing savoir-faire among small farmers
• Varieties

The coffee regions in Colombia are abundant, steep, dense and craggy, and, particularly in the south, volcanic. The varying microclimates and harvest periods create a sense of endlessness for a novice coffee traveler. 20 departments produce coffee in Colombia, spanning from the northern coast to the Ecuador border.

Coffee grows as far east as the Amazonian border of Boyacá department. Colombia also grows coffee as far west as outer Antioquia. Fantastic coffee comes from all over the country.

Royal has also bought coffee from the unique terroir of the Sierra Nevada Mountain in the far north. Not only are these coffees jammy and wonderfully complex, but they also come from experienced organic farmers.

Most coffee varieties in production in Colombia are rust-resistant hybrids originally developed by CENICAFE, Colombia’s federal coffee research institute. These hybrids combat recent outbreaks of coffee leaf rust that devastated large parts of Central and South America. However, Colombia’s coffee remains genetically diverse, including red bourbon, caturra, tabí, gesha, wush wush, and even “pink” bourbon, a tangy, pink-skinned mutation of red bourbon which producers in southern Huila are starting to promote.

Coffee is always in season somewhere in Colombia. Unless you have quite a specific preference, there is brisk, fresh coffee available all year long.

Northern Colombia harvests coffee with Central America from September to December. Southern Colombia harvests with Peru and Ecuador from March to June. The central departments provide both principal harvests and fly crops in later months.

Colombia’s northern departments (Magdalena, Santander, Antioquia, etc.) harvest coffee along with Central America, from September to December; and the southern departments (Nariño and Cauca) harvest along with Peru and Ecuador, from March to June. The country’s central departments, however, typically have a principal harvest and another fly crop harvest a few months after. Huila, for example, has such variable patterns that different sub-regions in the department are harvesting coffee anywhere from March to December. Tolima, Quindío, and Valle de Cauca each have two harvest periods, with main crops in either the fall or spring, and fly crops in the spring or fall,

In Colombia, coffee is in harvest every month of the year. The country exports 12-14 million bags of coffee annually, putting it third in the world behind Brazil and Vietnam. This is even more astounding when you consider that they produce entirely arabica coffee and most is specialty grade.

Fully washed coffees are the norm in Colombia, but that doesn’t mean processing is uniform by any means. Microclimates vary widely, and producers on small parcels of land have learned to be extremely creative with their operations.

We are seeing a rise in full natural and anaerobic or custom fermentations among producers. Despite the lack of national infrastructure for experimentation, producers have miller and exporter support. We believe these coffees will grow in availability.

The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia (FNC) is a governmental organization. The FNC focuses solely on the health of the national coffee sector. In many regards the FNC is a safety net for growers and is the strongest national coffee sector in the world.

Fly crops are smaller, secondary regular harvests that occur separately from the majority harvest months during an annual cycle. Fly crops are most common in countries on or near the equator. There seasonal changes are subtle, and rains are periodic rather than concentrated.

Colombia has the most erratic harvest calendar of any producing country. This is because of its geographic position and multiple mountain ranges.