The beauty of having a wide swath of a coffee “Bean Belt” growing region looping around the world, stretching north to the Tropic of Cancer to south to the Tropic of Capricorn, is having great coffee available to us year-round. However, even seasoned coffee drinkers are frequently unaware of the seasonality of individual coffee-growing regions.
Late spring to early summer are in fact off-peak in terms of growing cycles for most coffee-producing countries. However, June falls smack-dab in the middle of the peak shipping time for Colombia – meaning that Colombian coffee arriving in roasteries now makes for some of the freshest final product you can get. With 82 ecologically distinct ecotopes nation-wide making for an incredible range of fine Colombian coffees, the following are three varieties to try now.
Colombia La Cabaña | Steve & Harry’s Coffee Co. – Post Falls, Idaho microroaster Steve & Harry’s, which posts frequently-updated lists of coffee offerings by continent and country, includes call-outs for how each batch of coffee was grown. For Colombia La Cabaña, it’s newly arrived, organic, “rainforest-friendly” and shade-grown. || $10.50/lb.
Single-Origin Colombian Dark | Columbia River Coffee Roaster– The 22-year-old small-batch roaster sits overlooking the Columbia River at the place where it meets the Pacific, roasting on Ponderay, Idaho-made Diedrich machines and selling from front-of-house Three Cups Coffee House overlooking a milieu of passing ships. Coffee sales benefit local theater and arts programs. || $12.40/lb.
PASION Medium Roast | La Cima Golden Coffee – La Cima Golden Coffee was founded by a Colombian family living in Vancouver with a goal of exclusively supporting Colombian cafeteros growing on three or less hectares of land. The mission is to go “far beyond fair trade, farm direct or direct trade” by sourcing at a fair price with regard to current market conditions (often, official Fair Trade coffee prices do not account for year-to-year spikes and dips in coffee supply and demand, pinning “fair” prices much lower than market value) and on a regular, dependable basis. || Varies by location.
