Rubiela Velasquez / Colombia

About five to six kilometres south of the town of Planadas in Tolima, as the crow flies, lies Rubiela Velásquez's farm, La Esmeralda, in the hills above the settlement of San Ishidro. It is a two-hour walk from the nearest road, and horses or mules are reportedly the only means of transport to the farm. At 1,900–2,000 metres above sea level, she grows coffee considerably higher than the typical coffee-growing elevations of 1,300–1,700 metres in Planadas.

Rubiela and her husband, Bitermo Ordoñez, have cultivated this land together since 1994. A third-generation coffee farmer, she reportedly worked as a day labourer on her uncle's farm when she was young. The couple then acquired land in San Ishidro and gradually developed the plot that supported their family into the farm it is today.
The farm now covers seven hectares and is run by the couple and their children.

La Esmeralda grows Castillo, Castillo Tambo, Typica, Caturra and Geisha. Establishing Geisha on a plot at 2,000 metres reportedly took four years. The first cuppings did not produce the results they had hoped for. We understand that it was only after repeatedly adjusting fermentation times to suit the variety and fine-tuning the process according to the weather that their efforts came together. That Geisha placed fourth at the 2025 Colombia Washed Coffee Festival and went on to win first place at the 2026 edition of the same competition, just one week before this entry was written.

Rubiela's coffee reaches us through the Colombian exporter Fairfield Trading (FFT). Its founder, Alejandro Rengifo, established the company in 2002 after many years working in economic analysis at the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) and the International Coffee Organization (ICO). FFT deals exclusively in washed coffee. This reflects the view that Colombia's complex pattern of wet and dry seasons makes it difficult to achieve consistent quality with natural and honey processes, which require longer drying times.

Since 2024, FFT has jointly organised the Colombia Washed Coffee Festival (CWCF) with the Japanese importer SYU・HA・RI. Submitted lots are cupped blind, and the highest-ranked coffees receive a premium above the usual purchase price. Producers whose coffees do not meet the criteria also receive quality feedback, helping them prepare to try again the following year. We participated as judges in the 2025 competition. Rubiela is one of the producers who has worked with Alejandro for many years, and she and her husband have reportedly made a two-day journey to attend an awards ceremony.

Alejandro explains that the path from working as a day labourer on a farm to establishing a coffee farm with her husband is both unusual and extremely difficult in producing countries. He also sees their willingness to travel for two days from an area with limited infrastructure to participate in the competition as judges as a reflection of their diligence and determination to keep taking on new challenges.

Planadas is a municipality at the southern tip of Tolima. The town sits at 1,450 metres above sea level, 231 kilometres from the departmental capital, Ibagué. Annual rainfall is approximately 1,780 millimetres, with a dry season from December to February and a wet season from March to May. To the west and south-west, a national park extends around Nevado del Huila, Colombia's highest peak at 5,364 metres, and protected areas account for 70–80% of the municipality. Coffee cultivation is concentrated on the remaining eastern slopes. Planadas is said to have the largest coffee-growing area in Tolima, with around 7,000 farming households. Buenavista, the farm of Astrid Medina, whose coffee we have been purchasing since 2017, is also located in Planadas.

The coffee we are offering this time is a washed Castillo from La Esmeralda, harvested in July 2025. Planadas' main crop is said to run from April to June, so we believe this harvest falls towards the end of the season for this high-altitude farm.

Castillo is a variety released in 2005 by Cenicafé, Colombia's national coffee research centre. A cross between Caturra and the Timor Hybrid, it was developed over 23 years to produce coffee resistant to leaf rust. Rather than a single line, it is a mixture of several lines with similar characteristics. In 2006, seven regional versions were also released, each with a different combination of lines suited to its region. Castillo Tambo, which is also grown on Rubiela's farm, is one of these. It consists of seven lines selected at the research station in El Tambo, Cauca, and Cenicafé's documentation lists Planadas among its recommended growing areas.

Processing at La Esmeralda begins with resting the cherries.
Only fully ripe cherries are carefully selected and picked. Rather than being depulped immediately, they are left intact for around one to two days.
The fruit flesh is then removed using a pulper, and the coffee is fermented in tanks for 25–40 hours. Afterwards, it is washed approximately three times with clean water, then spread on covered drying beds to dry for 15–30 days.

With impressions of juicy fruit such as papaya and grape, this coffee has a gentle balance and a light body that make it as easy to keep sipping as tea. Herbal aromas that linger in the nose give the coffee an exotic character.