On beyond Juan: The new face(s) of Colombian coffee

Karen Atttman, Founder of Flavors of Bogotá.

Juan Valdez may be the global face of Colombian coffee, but younger Bogotanos are more likely to recognize that of their favorite barista. Colombian specialty coffee shops are the favored destination for discerning Bogotanos, and their growing popularity offers growers a chance to improve their economic fortunes. 

Karen Attman is the author of Permission to Slurp (Bogotá International Press) and founder of Flavors of Bogotá Specialty Coffee Shop Experiences. Hailing from Philadelphia, Karen now lives in Bogotá, where she introduces coffee lovers and skeptics alike to the emerging and exciting world of Colombian specialty coffee.

Karen’s writing has appeared in more than 25 publications including Esquire, National Geographic, and CNN. She contributed to the anthology Was Gabo an Irishman? and to FoodieHub’s Essential Guide to Latin America’s Best Restaurants.

Why is Colombian coffee so good?

Cafes de Colombia (Villegas Editores)

I could talk for a really long time about this, but one of the main reasons is that Colombia simply produces a lot.

Brazil and Vietnam are ahead in terms of quantity, but they don’t produce as much quality. Colombia is focused on high-quality beans. Here we grow a lot of Geisha, SL28, and Bourbons.

Also, Colombia has a huge growing region compared to other coffee growing countries. Coffee cultivation extends the length of the country, from the north all the way to the south. That span of latitudes means you can get fresh beans year-round.

Lastly, Colombian coffee is washed. Generally, washed coffees are considered to be higher-quality because fewer defects creep into the fermentation process.

The Eje Cafetero (coffee triangle) is also home to the stunning Valle de Cocora. (Delaney Turner)

How did you cultivate your own palette?

I learned about coffee in a really ideal way: I spent a lot of time with baristas, roasters, and coffee shop owners. One of the things I love about the community here is that people are very generous with their knowledge. They explained the best of what they knew. That was a great education.

Also, I drank a lot of coffee.

You have high standards.

Yes, but I’m not a coffee snob. If I’m meeting a friend I’ll drink whatever’s available. I’m not going to be picky.

A lot of people ask me which brand is the best. But it’s really not about any particular brand. You need to take the aroma and body, the acidity, and the sweetness all into consideration to know if it’s a quality drink.

Double espresso at Cafe Rec. (Delaney Turner)

You also have to try a lot to determine which kind you like. If you’ve tried a lot of Geishas or Yellow Bourbons, for example, you get to know the characteristics of each and whether you like them or not.

I look for a coffee that’s been properly cultivated, processed, roasted, and handled. If all those steps have been done with care, then you’ll get a high-quality brew.

What’s your favorite way of preparing Colombian specialty coffee?

I drink a lot of preparations, but what I really love is to go to a specialty cafe with amazing baristas and have a pour-over.

Photo by Jakub Kapusnak on Unsplash.

With a pour-over you see the skill of the barista and you can really tell the characteristics in the cup. There’s no milk or sugar covering the flavors, so the barista has to get it right for the cup to be good.

How do you characterize the specialty coffee scene here for visitors?

It’s complicated. And it’s a vast topic. In Bogotá you can find something that doesn’t taste like anything to something that’s extremely good. You have to hunt around to find the ones that match your tastes and expectations.

Everyone comes to Colombian coffee with a preconceived notion of what it should be. With my coffee shop tours, someone will say “I’m going to find my favorite coffee on this tour,” but generally I know that won’t be the case.

Coffee depulper, Salento. (Delaney Turner)

The coffee here is cultivated and roasted differently than for North American or European tastes. It’s typically a lighter roast.

You also have to remember that for Colombians, coffee is a means getting together with friends and family. The quality of the coffee isn’t usually the most important thing – they typically use a lot of milk and sugar.

That’s starting to change, though. Juan Valdez came on the scene in 2002. That was the first chain that focused on the quality of the coffee. Other specialty shops started around that time.

You’ve run a lot of your tours. What do you hear most often? What surprises people?

I thought I would only get coffee lovers, but nearly half of the people tell me “I don’t like coffee.” I wasn’t expecting that.

The non-coffee drinkers say they won’t drink it, but they always do, and they love it. That’s my favorite response because they’ve discovered something totally new that they can love.

Karen’s tour introduces visitors to Bogotá’s top baristas. (Flavors of Bogotá)

The most common response is that people don’t know how to taste coffee, or cup it, which is the professional term. On the tour we go through all of the coffee characteristics and the cupping process in detail to understand what goes into a specialty coffee.

Professional coffee cuppers will slurp it, which is really a revelation to people. We learned growing up that it’s rude to do that, but speciality coffee is an exception. It makes a lasting impression on people when they learn to taste it that way. Some people have written to me a year later to thank me.

Hence the title of your book, Permission to Slurp.

Permission to Slurp, by Karen Attman

Permission to Slurp came out in June as a light-hearted look at tasting specialty coffee. The emphasis is on Colombian coffee, but it can apply to any specialty coffee anywhere.

It goes into how you should handle and brew it at home. But it also explores the role of the growers, the roasters, the baristas, and coffee shop owners. You get a good idea of the whole chain that leads to this amazing drink in your cup.

Another aspect that surprises people on the tour is the effort that goes into producing specialty coffee.

Not a lot of people know about how it’s grown or processed or brewed in a specialty context. Even people who know a lot about coffee are always amazed by everything that goes into the process.

Obviously Colombia is a great place to be a coffee lover. Are the growers seeing an upside to the interest in Colombian specialty coffee?

Coffee is critical to the Colombian economy. At one point it accounted for 90 percent of the country’s agricultural production. Unfortunately, most coffee growers are not paid well. But the growth of specialty coffee can change that for the better.

Cafe, Salento. (Delaney Turner)

You need to remember that 95 percent of Colombian coffee is grown on family-run farms. More than half of those are quite small – about three hectares. So the farmers can’t more or expand their farms to increase their income, but they can plant a specialty crop.

When we consume specialty coffee that’s bought from companies or cafes that pay the farmers what they deserve, then everyone benefits.

That’s what I love about being in Colombia. You can find out directly from the coffee shop owners how they engage with farmers, what they pay them, whether they’re helping with expertise or equipment.

How has your perspective on the coffee scene changed in the last few years?

Everything’s changed. I’ve lived in coffee-growing regions for a long time and spent a lot of time on coffee farms, but I didn’t understand coffee to the same extent that I do now after talking to the baristas and shop owners. They have a deeper understanding of the whole process.

Local transportation, Salento. (Delaney Turner)

Faces of Colombian Coffee (Villegas Editores)

For many people throughout the country, coffee isn’t just something people drink. It’s the basis of their lives. It’s the way they dress, the type of houses they live in, the vehicles they drive, the festivals they attend – everything revolves around coffee. To me that’s mind-blowing.

I’ve been to at least a dozen new specialty coffee shops that are run by Colombians themselves. What effect are they having on the scene in Bogotá?

One of the beautiful things about these new shops is that they’re focused on education. They want their customers to understand speciality coffee and how they can learn to love it.

The theory is that the more people know about the product, the they come to appreciate it, and the more they’re willing to spend more on it.

One thing that’s so beautiful about the coffee scene here is that the baristas are so generous with their knowledge. They’ll tell you where the coffee was grown, at what altitude, and the exact variety of the bean. Places like Azahar and Cafe Cultor will even tell you the name of the farmer. People come away with an admiration for everyone involved.

There’s also a government program that’s trying to increase coffee consumption in Colombia. In Europe – particularly in Scandinavia – the average annual per capita consumption is nearly 20 pounds. The North American average is about nine pounds. Here, it’s barely four.

What will the coffee scene in Colombia will look like in five years? A Juan Valdez on every corner?

I definitely see more of an interest in speciality coffee, and I do hope to see the scene expand throughout the country.

Cartagena has seen a boom lately. Five years ago there wasn’t even a Juan Valdez. Now there’s a number of specialty shops and carts. Medellin has also seen a recent boom. That’s something I feel will definitely grow.

It would also be nice if regular coffee shops would start serving better-quality brews and paying growers more for what they’re serving. I would love to see more specialty shops, but we’ll have to see what the economy dictates.