STiR coffee and tea magazine

36 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 6, 2018 (December / January 2019) By Bethany Haye N ot long ago, you couldn't get a decent cup of coffee in the world's most fa- mous specialty coffee-producing country. As tourists, ex-pats, and the media have noted repeatedly, the best coffee is exported making the stuff available to the locals abysmal. One gringo, Thad Brown wrote on Quora that he would actually bring good Co- lombian coffee with him from the US. "I like my coffee the way I like my women," he explained, cold and bitter! No milk, no sugar. Iced coffee barely exists [at least in Medellin] and getting hot coffee without sugar was almost impossible. Colombia is reclaiming its coffee riches, particularly since 2012 when the begin- nings of the peace process saw the Andean nation start to function as a normal country. Colombia's economy is now the third largest in South America. The CIA Factbook notes that Colombia is a strong economic force in the region with a robust free market economy: "Investor confidence and commercial ties with major world economies are on the rise. The World Bank adds that growth is expected to accelerate moderately over 2019-2020, supported by increasing private consumption. An ambitious infrastructure program is transforming the capital Bogotá and run-down second city Medellin. Most importantly, the economy is safeguarded against "outside shocks" (such as rising oil prices and financial bubbles) and supported by sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms undertaken in recent years." All this means foreign businesses, tourists, and ex-pats are arriving in large num- bers and these guys want good coffee. A total 425,000 visitors arrived from the US, and almost 400,000 Europeans came to Colombia in 2017. A number of foreigners have stayed to provide just that, piquing Colombians' in- terest in the subtleties of their flagship national product. Information technology has done the rest, making the enhanced coffee experience an integral part of leisure culture here. This has fueled the rapid development of the premium segment, where consum- ers now find a great variety of single-origin coffees from various regions and even specific farms. A new generation of enthusiastic Colombian baristas has sprung up, dedicated to educating customers on the subtleties of preparation and developing their palates. Ca- fés increasingly roast in-house and source locally, often favoring organic and sustain- able farms. Light roasts, the preferred style of specialty coffee drinkers, are dominant. Nikolaï Fürst, owner-manager of Desar- rolladores de Café in Medellin Colombians in Love with Premium Coffee. Finally. A young woman enjoying coffee in a café in Bruges, Colombia

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