Owing to its high mountain peaks and proximity to the equator, Colombia enjoys ideal growing conditions for Arabica coffee. Its coffee-growing regions are nestled within the Andes Mountains, which offer diverse microclimates. In southern Colombia, the Huila department is home to a large number of smallholder coffee farms surrounding the city of Pitalito. Over the last decade, a dedicated focus on selective manual harvesting, intensive sorting, and careful post-harvest processing has driven global recognition of the region's coffee.

The producer of this coffee, Rodrigo Sánchez, is a pioneering, award-winning producer renowned for discovering the Pink Bourbon variety and introducing data-driven, innovative processing techniques. Alongside his wife, Claudia Samboni, he established the Aromas del Sur coffee cooperative and dry mill, which supports local smallholder farmers in and around Huila. This coffee, roasted by Cedar, comes from Rodrigo and Claudia's Finca Las Veraneras project. Founded in 2022, Las Veraneras is a high-altitude farm focused on cultivating over 20 rare coffee varieties, including Geisha and Sudan Rume.

Cedar's notes

"On filter we picked up lots of tropical fruit notes, think mango and pineapples. On espresso, we get a distinct pineapple candy sweetness with a bright tropical acidity. On milk, this shifts into a mango yoghurt profile, creamy, rounded, and still carrying that underlying fruit character, with a clean natural finish throughout."

• Cup profile: Pineapple candy, tropical juice, mango yoghurt

Coffee details from Cedar

"This is our first time working with the Sudan Rume varietal, and it stood out straight away on the table. What drew us in was the level of complexity, layered and expressive, but without leaning into the heavy, over-fermented character that naturals can sometimes carry. It's a clean, structured take on a more fruit-forward profile.

"This lot comes from Las Veraneras in Huila, Colombia, a farm owned by Rodrigo Sánchez. Rodrigo has built a reputation for working with uncommon varieties and refining processing methods to highlight clarity and structure in the cup. Las Veraneras has become a space for that exploration, focusing on quality-driven lots that balance experimentation with consistency.

"Sudan Rume is a rare Ethiopian landrace known for its aromatic intensity and layered fruit character. For this lot, cherries are harvested at peak ripeness, measuring between 23–25° Brix, before resting for 36 hours. The coffee is then floated to remove impurities and dried slowly over 25–28 days. This careful approach to processing builds sweetness and body while maintaining a clean, composed profile."

• Country: Colombia
• Farm: Las Veraneras
• Producer: Rodrigo Sánchez
• Region: Pitalito, Huila
• Process: Natural
• Altitude: 1,500 – 1,700 masl
• Variety: Sudan Rume