Jeff Taylor (center) of PT’s Coffee visits a farm outside Bogota.

From the back of the minivan, I can hear Erwin in the front seat, explaining Spanish-language colloquialisms that vary from country to country in South America. In Colombia, the playful moniker “chi-chi” (an idiom for “monkey”) is called out to tourists by roadside vendors with snacks for sale at tollbooths.

At our first stop outside Medellin, Jeremy Raths and I have been relegated to the back of the van, as it was discovered an hour or so ago that we are the least likely in our group to get woozy on the road that constantly climbs and winds and yanks us back and forth in our seats, out of the valley and up to the misty heights of coffee country. With the rocking of the van and the breathtaking views up and down the nearly vertical mountainsides, we might as well be riding a gondola through the Andes. But these peaks are covered with coffee, not snow, for as far as we can see.

A hodgepodge group of us from around the world are here to tour farms and sample some of Colombia’s best coffees at the Cup of Excellence competition. Erwin Mierisch is a grower and roaster from Nicaragua, and the rest are green buyers, roasters and roaster-retailers from Japan, Norway, Iceland, Canada and the United States.

FNC egronomists visit coffee farms and offer advice on maximizing each farm’s potential.

One of our first stops is a farm near the small town of Concordia, south of Medellin. I’ve explored coffee country in Guatemala and Costa Rica, but here in Colombia are the steepest, tallest hills I’ve ever seen, with coffee planted to their peaks. The picking is intensely hard work. Cristina Garcés, whose family owns 28 coffee farms, tells me the pickers must eat seven meals a day to fuel the task before them.

All coffee origins have advantages and drawbacks that affect their ability to compete in the global market, from climate, to topography, to infrastructure, and finally, down to the knowledge of producers and the resulting cup characteristics. Colombia is in the midst of responding to rapidly changing market demands with a clear focus on capturing a greater share of the specialty trade. There are tools available to speed the process and obstacles that remain in the road, but by and large, Colombia is making a name for itself in specialty coffee.

The market evolves

From the 1960s well into the 1980s, producing countries were pressured to switch from farming Bourbon and Typica (low-yield) varieties to high-yield varieties such as Mundo Novo, or Variedad Colombia. This was, of course, pre-specialty coffee, when cost came before quality. As one might imagine, the lower-yield coffees are of greater quality than their high-yield counterparts.

Variedad Colombia was widely grown in Colombia in those years. “When you taste a Bourbon next to a V. Colombia, you can immediately see the difference, and know which one is better. V. Colombia tastes bland and even dirty,” says Scott Merle, green buyer and roastmaster at Batdorf and Bronson Coffee Roasters.

Some farms are only reachable on foot or on horseback.

Even 15 years ago, U.S. roasters were happy to buy Colombia Supremos that were of average yet consistent quality, and virtually untraceable. Now, roasters are going deeper and traveling to Colombia, identifying specific regions and producers that can provide much higher quality. “We’re asking producers to keep their old heirloom varietals in production, get rid of their Variedad Colombia and keep their coffees out of the hands of exporters who will mix them in with 50 or 100 other lots,” says Merle.

The resurgence of Bourbon and Typica is the result of producers adapting to what roasters want. This is possible because the specialty market is growing up and beginning to offer significant and legitimate alternatives to the commercial market. Buyers are more informed than ever and are asking more of their exporters. Some of them are beginning to pay more for coffee, a significant step toward assuring the future of specialty coffee. The fact is that unless buyers are willing to acknowledge and act on the connection between cup quality and price, there will not be a sustained resurgence.

“If buyers want to pay commodity prices, then they will get commodity coffee,” says Geoff Watts, green buyer and roastmaster at Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters. “Most coffee has intrinsic potential to be great. Whether it realizes that potential or not depends on the growers, cooperatives, millers and exporters being meticulous and paying attention to the smallest details.”

And getting there requires investment—more labor costs and more material costs. Watts adds: “Unless producers know that there will be a significant return on this investment, there is no reason to pursue it. And often, quality is not being incentivized properly on the purchasing side of the equation.”

Oswaldo Acevedo is a fourth-generation grower at the Café Mesa de los Santos farm in northeastern Colombia, about 250 miles north of Bogota. The farm is a prime example of investment in quality. Every detail is tended to, assuring a unique and beautiful cup. The climate conditions are one part of the equation: high temperature differentials between day and night, known as thermal amplitude; minimal rainfall, termed hydric shortage; and low yields as a result of 60 percent shade cover. “The first two factors are present in fine wine vineyards,” says Acevedo. “All three factors are responsible for the unique, sweet flavors and aromas … resulting in low yields and high production costs. But this makes our Bourbon trees produce a cup character our clients love—and their customers are willing to pay the extra production costs involved.”

Merle has always been a fan of Colombia’s specialty grade coffees. “At their best, Colombian coffees exhibit a refined grace and exceptional depth of character,” he says. “One may find winey and fruity flavors reminiscent of African coffees, or the subtle bergamot nuances of a fine Earl Grey tea.”

These coffees also do well in experimentation in the roast. “The densest beans respond admirably to longer roasting or deeper development that may be possible with other Latin American coffees. For years, Colombians were the beans of choice for our dark roasts,” says Merle.

Juan Valdez vs. individual farm identity

Coffee pickers in Colombia migrate from region to region year-round. The cherries are always ripening somewhere in this country that grows coffee from two degrees to 11 degrees latitude.

One of the greatest challenges facing Colombian producers may be establishing a new baseline of quality that differentiates them from what the world has been told about Colombian coffee for years. The image of Juan Valdez and “Colombian coffee” is pervasive, and indeed generic. “Individual producers from several regions producing fine coffees of distinction, unique from their neighbors’ coffee—this is what roasters and consumers need to know,” says Merle.

Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC), also called the Colombian Coffee Federation, is responsible for the success of the Juan Valdez campaign, having made Colombia and coffee ubiquitous in the minds of consumers in the ’80s. Even today, it’s not uncommon for the average consumer to believe that most—if not all—coffee comes from Colombia.

Acevedo acknowledges that a degree of consumer preference for Colombian coffee is due to effective marketing, resulting in brand equity. But he warns, “The main challenge Colombia’s half-million farmers face is maintaining consumer preference in a more competitive origin environment. There is one way to achieve this: Exceed the consumer’s quality expectations.”

To this end, the FNC provides technical assistance to farmers, with training on all aspects of farming and processing, and research done on FNC test farms that study soil conditions, genetic improvement and crop management. The FNC also provides security to farmers with a guaranteed sales point for their coffees, at the C-market price or better; it can provide this service because it controls 26 percent of Colombia’s coffee exports, as an exporting company in its own right. Some farmers contend that the terms come at a high price, with large fees and few viable alternate means of export since the FNC is the country’s largest and most influential exporter.

Mary Petitt, FNC executive vice president, refutes these claims. “There are 127 exporting companies in Colombia; it is a vibrant market, and farmers don’t have to go through the Federation, though they still receive health and educational benefits that the FNC provides all coffee farmers.”

Ernesto Garcés has been in the coffee business for 53 years. He now owns 28 coffee farms under his family’s Café Montes y Colinas brand. Garcés believes smallholders have been overtaxed for the FNC’s purchasing and export services and underserved in the management of Colombia’s competitiveness on a global scale. “We have been late to know which coffee varieties bring a good price in the [specialty market], where consumption is increasing and where the future for the coffee industry is,” he says. “The FNC should advise the coffee growers to eradicate the old varieties. … Now, we are finally introducing Colombian specialty coffee in the consuming world. It is sad that the world’s first mild coffee producer is the last in sales of specialty coffee.”

Within the FNC’s system of standards and protocols designed to serve half a million coffee producers of all shapes and sizes, it’s no wonder that individuality can be lost. “It’s a matter of scale—the tendency in big organizations is to value homogeneity and consistency over uniqueness,” says Watts. “There don’t seem to be systems in place to reward great individual effort, and most of the coffee produced in Colombia is sold in an anonymous way—bulked lots that represent the work of dozens or hundreds of individual growers, sold as a commodity.”

There will always be differences in quality among growers, some producing better-tasting coffee than others. But under the FNC, coffee is often sold as one item, and everyone gets a similar price, regardless of quality. Growers under this system have fewer incentives to improve their methods. “The target becomes ‘yield per hectare,’ not cup score,” says Watts. “The same thing happens in every producing country, but it seems to be more institutionalized in Colombia.”

Coffee bags are hand-painted.

Enacting change is difficult in a large institution. The specialty coffee industry has evolved rapidly over the last decade, and according to green buyers, roasters and farmers such as Garcés, Colombia has been slower to react than other countries. This may be due, in part, to the success of the Juan Valdez campaign, which created a powerful industry that for a time left other producing countries behind. “The natural result of this success was a kind of inertia—the well-oiled machine just keeps on cranking along,” says Watts. “The innovative spirit that made the Colombian industry great in the first place may need a bit of rekindling—but that seems to be happening now.”

Petitt agrees that Colombia used to be a leader in homogenization, but she says that for the past three to five years, the FNC has focused on individual farms and regions, not blending them with other lots, preserving the relationship between taste and place. “I don’t agree that Colombia has fallen behind in the specialty market,” she says. “We have taken a huge infrastructure and directed it toward differentiation. Our biggest challenge is to leverage our unparalleled systems to maximize benefits to farmers.”

The FNC is working to connect consumers with the coffees they seek, and more individual recognition hopefully will come as a result. Merle believes single-farmer recognition gained from cupping competitions like the Cup of Excellence eventually will propel Colombia’s reputation from merely “the richest coffee in the world” to one with a reputation for producing exquisite coffees on a regular basis.

A major challenge is the increased amount of work needed to keep exemplary coffees separate from homogenized lots for export. Roasters and green buyers are eager to see the results of the FNC taking a greater role in letting these coffees stand alone. “The Federation ought to be working diligently to support and promote the success of the individual coffee producers of Colombia,” says Merle.

“That’s the single most important role of the FNC,” says Petitt. “To be the farmer’s advocate, providing a market for their unique coffees.”

The future

The well-marketed image of Juan Valdez and Colombian coffee appeals to a certain audience, while the specialty audience—coffee connoisseurs—demand more refinement, want higher quality and traceability, and want to know where their money is going.

Specialty roasters are achieving this by working directly with quality-minded producers. “You have to find producers who are interested in improving their quality and are willing to work a little harder to get their coffee out of the homogenized ‘Colombia Supremo’ lots and into the hands of specialty roasters who will appreciate the quality and pay a premium for it,” says Merle.

Traceability of product and transparency in the value chain have become important to American roasters and even consumers. The FNC now is providing transparency through individual farmer identification in their warehouses. Beyond the FNC, roasters who can partner with honest, quality-minded producers at any origin will have an advantage over those who don’t or can’t. Smart producers recognize this, and to bring this idea full circle finally, in Colombia, growers continue to adapt their products to reflect what the market wants.

Farmers and their families greet visiting roasters and greenbuyers.

These steps are resulting in more specialty grade coffees, more specifically defined regions and recognized characteristics unique to each. “Buyers must be open to discussions about quality, price and value, and you have to give the farmers credit,” says Merle. “Producer names, Finca names, towns, regions—all need to be given to consumers so the farmers get the credit they deserve.”

On the ride back to Medellin, the van’s radiator blows. Luckily, we are stranded within 20 yards of a roadside snack stand stocked with carbonated refreshments in flavors ranging from guava to pineapple and lime. Even without said sustenance, the dramatic view of coffee-covered mountains leaping skyward on all sides of the valley is immensely satisfying, even after days of traveling through the region.

“Let’s hike up this hill and see if we can find some coffee,” says Jeremy. Seizing the opportunity to stretch our legs while we wait for alternate transportation, sure enough, we find a few stands of coffee. Just off the highway, planted along the fence of a hillside home’s back fence, the trees look more like well-thought-out landscaping than the crop that has made Colombia the world’s best-known producer of coffee. Fitting for a place with a rich history in coffee and future that is looking even brighter.

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