Coffee Culture

Tour Colombia for a dose of coffee harvesting, brewing and tasting. 

- Tim Leffel

“HOW MANY OF YOU PUT sugar in your coffee?” asked the barista at Café Jesús Martín in Salento. Five of the seven in our group raised their hands sheepishly. “I don’t blame you,” he answered, surprising us. “Most of the coffee you get is probably so bad that you need sugar to make it drinkable.” With a smile he added, “We’re not going to drink coffee like that today.”

When our perfectly made cappuccinos arrived, carefully brewed with freshly roasted beans from one of the best local farms, we had to admit he was right. This did not taste like the usual burnt black liquid from a corporate coffee chain or — even worse — your average diner. This brew was complex, rich, bursting with flavor and balanced. This is what it tastes like to drink good coffee at its source.

Coffee didn’t start out in Colombia, of course. The beans we now consume by the ton each day originated in some of the oldest human lands in Ethiopia, then made their way to Yemen. Eventually the bushes themselves migrated around the world to appropriate climates. In the 20th century, Colombia became the country most associated with coffee. While it has never been the biggest producer by volume, it has been the biggest quality producer.