Couple of questions about Colombian coffee

[wavinwayne]

1) Is ALL Colombian coffee by definition Arabica coffee? 2) Is there such a thing as Robusta Colombian coffee? The reason I ask is because I want to switch our office coffee from the rotgut original Maxwell House Robusta crap that we have now, to something that actually resembles drinkable coffee. I can get several varieties of Colombian coffee on the cheap at WallyWorld, & I just wanted to make sure that it's not Robusta garbage.

 

[Pablo]

Yeah I do think some beans grown in Columbia are Robusta. I mean where does Maxwell House get their beans???

 

[wavinwayne]

Pablo, I was doing a little homework after I posted my question, & I found a website that states: "No Robustas are grown in Colombia." Here's the link: www.juanvaldez.com/menu/history/beans.html

 

[Gurkha]

Arabica and Peaberry are the common ones here in India as well and they are the only things that you can find here at the counter.

 

[Pablo]

wow - great info. I was wrong. Now here's the weird thing. I'm confused. My favorite coffee is from Brasil:

quote:

---

Brazil: Includes coffees from Brazil and some other South American countries. Most of this coffee is unwashed arabica and some of it is robusta

---

Second and sometimes #1 is Sumatra:

quote:

---

Robustas: includes mostly coffees from Africa and some of Asian origin. All beans are from the robusta category

---

from: http://www.juanvaldez.com/menu/history/origins.html

 

[stringsattached]

http://www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.southamr.colombia.html This is a good site on coffee in general. Go to their home page, and scroll through the "master list of green coffees" for stuff from other countries.

 

[Gurkha]

The above two links have their definite Colombia bias, they claim only Colombia grows Arabica and Robusta is grown in Asia, truly wrong, from day one since I have been drinking coffee here in India and then subsequently in US,I know the taste of Arabica and Robusta, both are grown here in India, India sells most of its coffee to US, particulary Starbucks etc and Europe, mostly Italy and Germany, in fact, a particular Malabar Robusta blend is highly prized for blending into Espresso, check out the link at http://beancentral.com/product_info.php/products_id/167?osCsid=b843a4fd8404ab9caceb72bb720956cb http://www.samexagency.com/coffee.html [ January 20, 2006, 12:22 AM: Message edited by: Gurkha ]

 

[stringsattached]

I'm not sure where you saw that in my link; I even re-read it to make sure. The site actually has a few robusta coffees that they sell, but they explicity denote them for use in espresso blends only. I'm not so much an espresso man myself (mostly because I don't have a machine) but the Malabar Gold stuff sounds pretty good! "In fact when I pull it into a shot glass it quivers like jello." - Yum! http://www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.robusta.html

 

[Gurkha]

Stringsattached, I was basically talking about the Colombian Juan Valdez link where it was being asserted that only Colombia grows Arabica bean when there are others growing it as well, try the Indian Arabica and peaberry, one of the most aromatic yet mildest beans around if you do get a chance.

 

[Pablo]

I am starting to agree with Gurkha on the Juan Valdez site - I mean this is a Columbian marketing site. I don't think it is 100% accurate - I have nothing against Columbian coffee. I really don't know what the bushes are of the coffee type I like best. Need research. Need coffee.....as my tea is brewing!

 

[Jimbo]

One of our office coffee clubs uses Yuban, which is 100 percent Columbian arabica beans. I still dont like it, too "syrupy" for me, but an improvement over Chase and Sanborn, Hills Brothers, Maxwell House, Folgers, etc. All of those started out as "premium" brands, mostly out of San Francisco and have gone downhill for decades. If you have Costco stores in your area, they have a 100 percent Columbian in large cans for a good price that makes excellent office coffee.

 

[crheinish]

1) Yes 2) No do yourself a favor and buy your beans from a local coffee roaster. it will be the best coffee you have ever had. cheers chris

 

[wavinwayne]

crheinish, I am planning on trying some coffee from a local roaster, but not for office consumption. It will be for home drinking only. There is a coffee shop called the Kaffeeklatsch in the town where I work. The guy who runs it roasts his own coffee. Some of the offerings look very good. Here's a link to their website: http://www.kaffeeklatsch.com

 

[crheinish]

Jawohl! my kind of place. one more tip, ask if they offer beans from specialty farms, for example, dos marias. they will taste best. enjoy your coffee. best wishes chris

 

[wytstang]

You guys should check out www.babyscoffee.com they have some very good blends imo. I always look forward to my hazzle nut flavored coffee hmmmm. They have some specialty blens as well (Brazil, Columbian, Hawaiian Kona)