A trip to the Southern coffee growing areas, including the first visit to Tolima, thanks to a lull in the conflict.
I went to ColombiaColombian coffee is highly marketed and widely available in the US. They have been largely successful at equating the name Colombian Coffee with "Good" Coffee. This is half-true.... ...more again. The main point of this trip was to get to the coffee areas in south Tolima, Rioblanco and Herrera.
Because it was a bastion of FARC and the Paramilitarios, it was considered one of the last unstable places. It seemed perfectly fine with me, even though the DAS police came to my hotel in Chaparral town to check on what a gringo was doing in the area!
After a great trip to Tolima we faced a heinous drive to Neiva, then down to Pitalito and San Augustin in South Huila. Upon a return to Bogota, we flew up to see the work of Oswaldo Acevedo at Mesa De Los Santos, a coffee we have not seen for years here at SM.
Images of his unique cultivarCultivar is a term used interchangeably with Varietal in the coffee trade to indicate plant material, although there are distinctions.: The naming of a cultivar should conform to... ...more garden occupy the later half of this picture log. It took me a while to sort through the images. I just take too many pictures. In fact, as I write this I am headed back to Colombia for the Cup of ExcellenceThe Cup of Excellence is a competition held yearly in many coffee-producing countries, designed to highlight the very best coffees from each origin.: The Cup of Excellence (COE)... ...more in a couple weeks.
Ah well, I think I will leave the behemoth camera at home and take a point and shoot this time. We visited many Colombia coffee farms in these areas, cooperatives and wet mills. -Tom
