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What is the Altitude of Colombian Coffee: High-Altitude Flavor Profiles from Colombian Coffee Growing Regions

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Cauca Coffee Introduction. Colombia is the world's third-largest coffee exporting country, primarily producing Arabica coffee, and is also the country that exports the most Arabica beans. In 1808, a priest first introduced coffee from the French Antilles via Venezuela.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

FrontStreet Coffee Colombia Cauca Introduction

Colombia is the world's third-largest coffee exporting country, primarily producing Arabica coffee, and is also the country that exports the most Arabica beans.

In 1808, a priest first introduced coffee to Colombia from the French Antilles via Venezuela. Today, the country is the second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, the world's largest exporter of Arabica coffee beans, and the world's largest exporter of washed coffee beans.

Cauca Department, named after the Cauca River, is located in southwestern Colombia. Along with Nariño Department and Huila Department, it is one of Colombia's important premium coffee-producing regions.

Cauca Department is a region with Colombian coffee origin certification, with an average altitude of 1,758m and a maximum altitude reaching up to 2,100m. The region's topography, precipitation, temperature, and volcanic soil provide suitable conditions for coffee growth. 80% of the area is mountainous, with parallel mountain ranges in the eastern and central parts, which are part of the Andes Mountains. The central mountain range includes two main volcanoes, Sotara and Petacas. Similar to other southwestern producing regions, the precipitation in the border area of Cauca shows a clear monomodal distribution, with the dry season mainly occurring from August to September each year. The subsequent rainy season brings a concentrated coffee flowering period, followed by a concentrated coffee harvest season the next year.

Perhaps the biggest climatic difference between Cauca and other producing regions is the relatively large temperature variation. The average daily temperature is 11°C, while the average daytime temperature is 18°C. The day-night temperature difference is an important factor in producing high-quality coffee. Lower nighttime temperatures and relatively higher altitudes slow down the growth rhythm of coffee, allowing coffee seeds and beans to more fully absorb the nutrients from coffee cherries, which also creates better acidity and the notably special sweetness of Cauca coffee.