Tropical notes of pineapple, ripe stone fruits and a twist of citrus morph into caramel and chocolate tones, with a delicate vanilla and floral finish.
Gaitania sits within the Planadas municipality in Colombia's southern Tolima - remote, high-altitude, and quietly extraordinary. Despite falling within Tolima's borders, the village sits in the northern foothills of the Huila volcano, whose ancient eruptions left behind the nutrient-dense volcanic soils that define this terroir. The altitude and cool mountain climate slow cherry development, and the region has earned its reputation: coffees from Planadas took first and third place at the Cup of Excellence in 2015.
The history here runs deep. Planadas carries a complex past - it was once associated with the birthplace of the FARC guerrilla movement, a stigma that long made life difficult for its farming families. But the people of the region pushed forward regardless, rebuilding their community around coffee. Most remarkably, the Nasa Wesx Indigenous community (whose people span territories across Cauca, Huila, and Tolima) negotiated their own peace agreement with the FARC back in 1996, two decades before Colombia's national accord. That act of collective courage helped preserve both lives and the land itself.
Today, the Nasa Wesx are the heart of coffee production in Gaitania, working through two cooperatives: ACEDGA, founded in 2006 and representing around 72 families, and ASCI'SP, established in 2014 with 80 members farming over 200 hectares collectively. These structures give growers access to training, quality analysis, and certification pathways they couldn't reach independently - including organic certification, earned through a genuine, long-standing commitment to leaving native flora intact and farming in harmony with the land.
The processing is careful and unhurried. Cherries are hand-sorted to remove anything underripe or faulty before de-pulping. The coffee is then fully washed to strip the mucilage, and the beans are laid out on raised drying beds until they reach optimal moisture - a clean, transparent process that lets the origin speak clearly.
- Country: Colombia
- Department: Tolima
- Municipality: Planadas
- Village (corregimiento): Gaitania
- Producers: Local smallholder producers of the Gaitania area
- Altitude: 1,700-1,900 m.a.s.l.
- Botanical Cultivars: Typica, Caturra
- Process: Washed