Sign In

Don Dale's Blog

Colombian Specialty Coffee Educator

Coffe Regions Quick Comparison

Region Zone Altitude (m) Key Varieties Flavor Notes Processing Harvest Season Huila Southern 1,200 – 2,200 Castillo, Caturra, Tabi, Bourbon, Gesha Citrus, cherry, jasmine, caramel, brown sugar Washed; natural & honey microlots Oct–Jan (main); Apr–Jun (mitaca) Nariño Southern 1,500 – 2,300 Typica, Caturra, Castillo Bergamot, red berries, dark chocolate, panela Washed (dominant) Nov–Feb (main); May–Jul […]

Read More

History of Coffee in Colombia

  ☕ Colombian Coffee History Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Global Origins: Coffee Before Colombia 3. Colonial Roots (c. 1723–1800) 4. The Nineteenth-Century Export Economy 5. Haciendas & the Smallholder Revolution 6. The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros 7. Juan Valdez & Nation Branding 8. Crisis, Collapse & Reinvention 9. The Specialty Revolution 10. The […]

Read More

☕ The History of Coffee in Texas: Contraband Beans, Cowboy Brew, and a Revolution Fueled by Caffeine

https://youtu.be/4OMkILnq5ZIhttps://youtu.be/Vs7jVkqoWb4 ☕ The History of Coffee in Texas: Contraband Beans, Cowboy Brew, and a Revolution Fueled by Caffeine 🌵 Frontier Beginnings Coffee reached Texas long before statehood, back when the region was still under Mexican rule. In the early 1830s, coffee was a luxury import—scarce, expensive, and subject to steep Mexican taxes. Texans, being Texans, […]

Read More

Tolima

REGION 04 OF 13 Central Zone Tolima Peace, Organics, and Layered Complexity — Reclaimed from Conflict OVERVIEW Tolima is Colombia’s most remarkable story of agricultural resilience. For decades, FARC occupation kept the department’s coffee-growing zones in the central Andes effectively isolated from global markets — a hardship that produced an unintended agricultural miracle. With external […]

Read More

Coffee Regions Comparison

Comparative Quick Reference All 13 Colombian coffee-growing regions compared across key parameters Region Zone Altitude (m) Key Varieties Flavor Notes Processing Harvest Season Huila Southern 1,200 – 2,200 Castillo, Caturra, Tabi, Bourbon, Gesha Citrus, cherry, jasmine, caramel, brown sugar Washed; natural & honey microlots Oct–Jan (main); Apr–Jun (mitaca) Nariño Southern 1,500 – 2,300 Typica, Caturra, […]

Read More

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Region 13 of 13 Northern Zone Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sacred Mountain — The World’s Highest Coastal Range, Stewarded by Ancient Indigenous Hands Overview The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is unlike any other coffee origin on earth. It is the world’s highest coastal mountain range — rising from Caribbean sea level to […]

Read More

Norte de Santander

Region 12 of 13 Northern Zone Norte de Santander The Birthplace of Colombian Coffee — Where it All Began Overview Norte de Santander holds a distinction shared by no other Colombian department: it is the birthplace of Colombia’s commercial coffee industry. Coffee was introduced here from Venezuela in the early 19th century — and in […]

Read More

Santander

Region 11 of 13 Northern Zone Santander Shade-Grown Heritage and Organic Tradition — Colombia’s Northeast Coffee Stronghold Overview Santander is one of Colombia’s oldest and most distinctive coffee regions — a northeast Andean department where shade-grown cultivation under a canopy of avocado, banana, guamo, calapo, and citrus trees is not a premium practice but simply […]

Read More

Cundinamarca

Region 10 of 13 Central Zone Cundinamarca Land of the Condor — Colombia’s Capital Coffee Region and Historic Hacienda Heartland Overview Cundinamarca — whose name derives from the Quechua for “land of the condor” — surrounds Colombia’s capital Bogotá and holds a historically significant but often underappreciated position in the national coffee narrative. It was […]

Read More

Valle del Cauca

Region 09 of 13 Central Zone Valle del Cauca Pacific Influence and Indigenous Roots — From Coastal Lowlands to High Andean Ranges Overview Valle del Cauca is a study in dramatic contrasts — spanning from Pacific coastal lowlands to high Andean ranges, its coffee-growing zones occupy the mountain corridors where Pacific Ocean moisture collides with […]

Read More