I arrived into Pereira on an early flight and was quickly met by Cesar and Rosa, my guide for the day. Cesar drove us through the valley, explaining the history of the agriculture and specifically the coffee farms. The valley is heavily populated, but is surrounded by coffee and banana plantations along the hillsides. The whole coffee region was …

We spent the morning exploring the Finca Cafeteria “La Arboleda” today. We met the owner Marleni, our host of the day and she greeted us in her home with cookies and crackers before we set off. She took us for a hike through her farm, built on a steep hillside above her house. All her coffee was shade-grown, and she had plants that had …

Today we visited the Finca Santa Ana, a smaller scale locally owned coffee farm. The farm was owned by Jesus Martin and his family. We set off this morning with our guide Natalia, who worked for the farm. We went by bus to a nearby field and then set off on foot up the coffee-filled hillside. Natalia explained the coffee plant in great detail, …

Once the raw coffee beans have been fermented, dried and the husks removed, the Finca Santa Ana brings the bags of beans to a roaster in Salento, the nearby town where they also have a small cafe. The roasting facility is very small scale - they can roast up to 5 kilos at a time on a state-of-the-art German roasting machine. As they said, the …

Today we took a break from coffee to explore the natural and cultural side of the coffee region. We met up with Alvaro in the town of Filandia, where we jumped into the back of an old Willy’s Jeep and set off through town. The paved road quickly turned to a smaller rugged road and then truly a little jeep trail. We bounced along for about 10 …