Are you the sort of person who enjoys things more once you get to know and understand those things? If so, you might be looking at your bag of whole bean Colombian coffee and wishing you knew more about it. Well, you're in luck. This article will present five interesting facts about Colombian whole bean coffee.
Colombian coffee is hand-picked.
While coffee in some countries is picked by machine, Colombian coffee is almost all hand-picked. There are definitely advantages to this method. The people who pick the coffee look at each coffee cherry, and they only pick the ripe ones. This results in more evenly flavored coffee. (Sometimes machine pickers pick some non-ripe cherries along with the ripe ones.)
Colombian coffee is grown on small farms.
If you're imagining big, industrial farms owned by corporations, then you have the wrong idea of Colombian coffee. Actually, the coffee here is grown on many small, family-owned farms. The families who own the coffee farms are part of a trade organization, and they work together to promote good living conditions for workers and good quality control for their coffee. However, each one is independently owned.
Colombia is one of the largest coffee producers.
While Colombian coffee is known to be delicious and high-quality, it is not rare or hard to find. In fact, Colombia is the world's third largest producer of coffee, producing about 14.3 million 50 kg bags per year. Only Brazil and Vietnam produce more.
Colombian coffee can have a variety of characteristics.
Coffee grows best at high altitudes. Luckily, Colombia has plenty of high-altitude land, but its altitude still varies. Coffee grown way up in the mountains tends to be smoother and less acidic, whereas coffee grown closer to the base of the mountains tends to be more acidic and fruity. So, if you buy two Colombian coffees, they may not taste the same.
Colombian coffee is best purchased as whole beans.
This is true of all coffees, but especially of Colombian coffee. If you buy it in the whole bean form, fewer of the aromatic compounds will leech out of the coffee before you get a chance to enjoy it. Pre-ground coffee loses its flavor and goes stale quite quickly. Colombian coffee is especially high in aromatic compounds, so the difference is significant.
Hopefully, the facts above pique your interest and make drinking your Colombian coffee that much more enjoyable an experience.
Share28 April 2022
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