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South American Coffee Beans - The Characteristics of Colombian Huilan Coffee: Rich Flavor Bestowed by Volcanic Soil

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 public account cafe_style ) FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Colombian Huilan Coffee Colombia straddles the northern and southern hemispheres with most of its coffee producing regions located between 2-8 degrees north latitude The coffee producing areas are concentrated in the three rivers and two valleys region namely the Andes Mountains part within Colombia (Cordillera Mountains) Colombia's rivers

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Colombian Huila Coffee

Colombia straddles both the northern and southern hemispheres, with most of its coffee growing regions located between 2-8 degrees north latitude. The coffee production areas are concentrated in the "three rivers and two basins" region, which corresponds to the Andes Mountains (Cordillera Mountains) within Colombia. Almost all of Colombia's rivers originate from the Andes Mountains. Excellent coffee growing regions typically possess higher altitudes (Colombia's capital BOGOTA has an altitude of 2600-3000 meters), fertile soil (Huila Volcano Nevado del Huila, Galeras Volcano Nevado del Galeras), valleys (Andes Mountains), rainforests, plateaus, abundant precipitation (warm humid air currents from the Pacific Ocean), and diverse microclimates formed by the towering Andes Mountains. These natural conditions make Colombia ideal for coffee cultivation, yielding both high volume and high quality.

Colombia is the only country in South America with both Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea coastlines. Within Colombia, the best growing regions are almost all volcanic soils. When it comes to volcanoes, we must mention the two highest-quality coffee producing regions in Colombia: Huila (HUILA) and Nariño (NARINO) in the south. These two provinces contain Colombia's famous volcanoes: Huila Volcano (Nevado del Huila) in Huila province, and Galeras Volcano (Nevado del Galeras) in Nariño province.

Volcanic ash is rich in minerals, making soil more fertile. Huila Volcano has been continuously erupting in recent years, which is good news for coffee farmers in Huila province. In 2009 and 2010, Huila province's ability to produce "SCAA Coffee of the Year" was partly attributed to the new supply of volcanic ash to the soil.

Nariño (NARINO) region accounts for about 3%-5% of Colombia's total coffee production, with one harvest per year. Huila (HUILA) region accounts for about 10%-20% of the national coffee production. Huila's production is massive while also being a high-quality region. As mentioned above, many SCAA champion beans come from this region. Therefore, Colombian Huila coffee beans enjoy very high recognition and praise in international trade.

Huila

Huila coffee is an origin coffee named after its growing region, fully representing the unique characteristics of Huila's coffee. The most prominent features are its pure, balanced, and gentle flavor profile, with very high aromatic intensity.

As one of Colombia's several coffee growing regions, Huila is arguably the country's most famous growing area. Like many other regions in Colombia, Huila's development was severely affected by the unrest that plagued Colombia from the 1990s to the early 2000s.

In 2010, the Colombian government launched a support program for farmers displaced by the unrest. Its central goal was to ensure land was returned to its legitimate owners and to provide these people with resources to restart agricultural production.

In some cases, this also meant coffee growers obtained resources to transition from commercial-grade coffee production to specialty coffee production, allowing them to command considerably higher market prices. According to the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), in 2016, Huila produced 2.6 million 60kg bags of green coffee beans, accounting for 18% of the country's coffee production.

In Summary

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