Dark, ripe berries lead the cup, drifting into mandarin and honey. A rich dried fig note rounds out this sweet, balanced, and moreish brew.
Nariño is one of Colombia's most exciting and distinctive coffee-growing departments – and also one of its most misunderstood. Tucked into the southernmost corner of the country, bordering Ecuador, it sits where all three of Colombia's Andean mountain ranges converge. That collision of geography creates an extraordinary range of microclimates in a relatively small area, and some of the highest-altitude coffee farms in the world. It also means the sun hits those steep slopes at an angle that most growing regions can only dream of – a quirk of topography that helps coffee thrive at elevations that would be inhospitable almost anywhere else.
Tablón de Gómez sits deep within this landscape, a remote municipality in eastern Nariño that takes around two hours by road from Buesaco – itself celebrated for its exceptional micro-lots. Getting here involves the kind of route that involves pickup trucks and muddy off-road tracks rather than motorways. The area is part of the Macizo Colombiano, the great Colombian Massif that serves as the source of many of the country's major rivers, and it carries deep indigenous roots. The Inga people – descendants of pre-Columbian communities related to the Inca, who have inhabited these mountains for over 500 years – have a significant presence in the region, and the broader Massif is home to important archaeological heritage that reflects just how long this land has been lived in and cultivated.
For much of the late 20th century, Tablón de Gómez was shaped by conflict. Like much of rural Nariño, the region suffered under FARC control – the combination of remoteness, minimal government presence, and high altitude made it attractive for illegal crop cultivation. Coffee, without a proper market to sell into, couldn't compete. That has changed dramatically. The guerrillas were driven from the area, the peace agreement of 2016 brought stability, and the combination of remarkable terroir and newly accessible markets has seen the region emerge as one of Colombia's most promising specialty coffee origins. For many farmers here, the transition to coffee wasn't just an agricultural shift – it was an economic transformation.
The farms sit at 1,800 to 2,100 metres above sea level, where temperatures hover between 13°C and 25°C and annual rainfall averages around 1,800mm. That cool, wet climate is both a gift and a challenge. On the one hand, the cold slows cherry maturation beautifully – sugars concentrate in the fruit, complexity builds, and the resulting coffees tend to be lusciously sweet with bright, defined acidity. On the other, the frequent rain makes drying a real exercise in patience: expect 20 to 25 days on the beds before the coffee reaches the right moisture level. Around 90% of farms here are shade-grown, with fruit trees like avocado, mandarin, and guava providing canopy alongside native species – a system that cools the microclimate further and reinforces that slow, deliberate ripening.
The producers contributing to this lot are members of two organisations: the Terra Association and the Cooperativa de Cafés Especiales de Nariño, founded in 2012 by a group of quality-focused producers from Buesaco. Both are committed to sustainable farming, quality-driven production, and ensuring that the economic benefits of specialty coffee reach the people who actually grow it. Processing happens at farm level – cherries are selectively hand-picked at peak ripeness, floated and hand-sorted to remove defects, then depulped using manual pulpers at the family farm. Fermentation runs for 24 to 48 hours depending on conditions, after which the mucilage is washed off and the parchment coffee is laid on raised beds to dry. The pulp from depulping isn't wasted – it goes back into the soil as natural fertiliser for the next generation of trees.
- Country: Colombia
- Departamento: Nariño
- Municipio: Tablón de Gómez
- Producers: Smallholder members of the Terra Association and Cooperativa de Cafés Especiales de Nariño
- Altitude: 1,800 – 2,100 m.a.s.l
- Varietal: Caturra, Castillo
- Process: Washed – hand-picked, floated and sorted, depulped, fermented 24–48 hours, washed, dried on raised beds for 20–25 days to 11% moisture
- Farming: ~90% shade-grown, intercropped with fruit and native trees