Colombia Single Origin | Tolima Province | Planadas Farmers' Association | Certified Organic Coffee

Colombia Tolima Planadas Farmers Association 1500-2100m Organic Certified

Region: Planadas, Tolima, Colombia

Altitude: 1,500-2,100 meters

Varieties: Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, and Typica

Processing Method: Washed

Grade: Organic

Flavor Description: The dry aroma features chocolate, caramel, plum and almond notes. The cup reveals milk candy, caramel, citrus, plum, pomelo, preserved plum, dark berries, blackberry and mulberry flavours, with a caramel-chocolate finish. The overall profile is solid and full-bodied, making this a distinctive coffee.

This batch comes from the Planadas Farmers Association in Tolima, the Asociación de Productores Ecológicos de Planadas (ASOPEP), established in 2013 and made up of 162 small farmers, each cultivating less than three hectares. They use traditional washed processing, fermenting in water tanks for 16-18 hours, then washing away the mucilage and drying in the sun. The association farms organically to protect the environment and, through fair trade, creates more stable income for smallholders in the region.

Region Introduction

Colombia is divided into 32 departments, and Tolima sits in the southwest, next to the renowned specialty regions of Huila and Cauca. Its capital is Ibague.

Within Tolima, the Andes and the Cordillera run north to south, and between these two ranges the Magdalena River flows from south to north.

The name Tolima comes from the area's earliest inhabitants, the Pijao people. In the Pijao language, tolima means "snow-covered," which makes it easy to imagine that this distant land is also home to high-quality coffee.

Tolima borders Huila and Cauca, a region coffee pilgrims need determination to visit. The roads are not ideal, and experts who have made the trip all describe the bumpy hardship of the journey.

Farms in Tolima are generally a little larger than in other southern Colombian regions, averaging between 10 and 15 hectares. Cooperative models are popular here too, with farmers sending their small batches of fresh cherries to cooperative processing plants. Some farmers process their own coffee instead, using small-scale facilities sized to the daily harvest. Carefully processed green beans can be priced on cupping results, with a few outstanding batches set aside as "microlots" and stored separately for further cupping in the capital, Bogotá. The remaining green beans are usually blended and sold on their cupping flavours.

As in other Colombian regions, the classic processing method here is washed, using sun-drying.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this washed Colombian profile is what you're after, FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia Huila is a direct counterpart. Huila, in the southern Central Cordillera, is the country's most famous specialty region: hills ringed by mountains, planted above 1,500 meters, where Colombia's most important rivers meet and bring abundant water and humidity. FrontStreet's washed Huila is medium-dark roasted, so it plays up black chocolate and nutty sweetness, moderate oils and a full body, and it suits pour-over and French press as well as moka pot and espresso for Americanos and lattes.

Colombian coffee is versatile, and FrontStreet Coffee's range reflects that. For a modern, fruit-forward alternative there is the Colombia Frontera Sidra, which uses a natural anaerobic process: the cherries ferment in a low-oxygen or oxygen-free environment, usually a pressure-resistant stainless steel tank where temperature, time and pH are controlled. The oxygen-free ferment converts more tropical fruit aroma into the cup, and medium-light roasted it shows complex, concentrated notes of passion fruit, grape, apricot and preserved fruit in pour-over, cold brew, drip bags and moka pot.

If you want a Colombian component in an espresso blend, FrontStreet's house blend combines the creamy nuttiness of Brazilian coffee with the dark chocolate bittersweetness of Colombian coffee; extraction shows a fine golden crema, and it pairs beautifully with milk for a rich, smooth latte, friendly to beginners and a reliable base for Americanos, cappuccinos and mochas.