Colombia Sourcing Trip 2026

For a particular generation, the image of Juan Valdez hiking down the mountains with his donkey laden with coffee bags is synonymous with coffee. At the end of January, Noah, Giselle, my son Albin and I traveled to Acevedo, Huila in the south of Colombia to see this land and learn more about coffee production. What we learned about Huila and coffee production in the region was very impressive and we're excited to introduce Diego Gomez and his farm Finca la Floresta.

We flew Clic Airlines from Bogota to Pitallito. For the Av Geeks out there it's a ATR42-600.

Coffee is the lifeblood of Huila. However getting there is not the easiest. This is not a complaint, but one of the challenges of being a roaster in such a rural part Northern New York is that there are no large international airports within a reasonable distance. In order to get to Central / South America we typically have to be on one of the first flights out of Syracuse, make a connection and catch one of the last flights of the day out to wherever we're heading. So

, that's exactly what we did. We left the house around 2:30 in the morning and were in Bogota by evening. We had to wait for the next flight to Pitalito, so we found a hotel near the airport and almost 36hrs after our departure we arrived at our destination.

The first thing you notice when you're descending into Pitalito are the mountains. There is coffee growing everywhere. The city itself is nestled in a valley surrounded by plains and beyond it are the lush mountains. Of course it's exciting to see coffee growing, but we're also aware that we are looking for very specific coffees.

It was a special trip for Albin and me.

Diego's family has worked in coffee for a few generations. His two brothers also work in coffee. Mario has his Q and runs his own export business. His other brother William also has a coffee farm adjacent to Diego's. Some coffee farmers have been more open to the idea of change than others. The Gomez family has embraced the specialty market and the transformation that coffee has undergone within the last 15 years.

Diego's farm Finca La Floresta has roughly 60,000 trees that consist of 20 different varietals. Honestly, this is the kind of farmer we want to partner with. He practices many different post harvest processes producing Washed, Naturals, Anaerobics and co-ferments. Having the opportunity to try all kinds of varietals as well as different post harvest processes really helps to expand the mind to what's possible with coffee.

Scott and Diego cupping coffees roasted on the Ikawa

A big part of what we do when we travel to origin is we cup coffees. Tug Hill Artisan Roasters has an Ikawa-pro50 and it gets priority over personal carryons. The first day we roasted probably around 20 coffees and the second day we spent cupping and talking about the coffees. This is all taking place right at the farm.

Back in Pitalito we had the opportunity to visit Mario's "KawaCoffee Exporters" cupping lab. One of the things I often share with other roasters is that in order to find the best coffees, you really have to travel to origin and plan on spending a lot of money on good coffee.

Coffee is, of course, an international market. We consumer a lot of coffee in North America, but our coffee culture is heavily influenced by larger sugary drinks. When we work with specialty coffee importers we get great coffees. The importers take a lot of the work out of finding the coffees and as roasters we just run with it. However, there is a ceiling with what importers will bring into the United States with regard to price and value. This is because most of the really high end coffees go to Asia.

Coffee has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds in Asia. However it has fallen into a tea culture with tea house rituals and an appreciation for slow food. The really high end coffees are now going to Asia and the Middle East. In fact last year, Tug Hill Artisan Roasters went into a cup of excellence auction to purchase some coffees from Pablo and Eva's farm in Guatemala. We were super excited for Pablo and Eva taking 3rd place and we teamed up with two other roasteries to try to get their coffee. When the price hit $15/lb we our team of roasters ended up backing out. The coffee ended up going to a Japanese coffee importer. It's not even a roaster! The Japanese importer proceeded to then sell the coffee to roasters.

After processing, coffee undergoes a final sorting where any defects are picked out. It's this additional attention to detail that helps get an amazing cup.

Focusing on the roasting side of things, we've discovered that there are likeminded people in Central and Northern NY that are looking for something special. Tug Hill Artisan Roasters has been pivoting to fill this niche market and to be frank, this is what gets us excited about our work. While lots of shops are embracing consistency, we're actively looking for unique and different coffees. By working with amazing farmers like Diego Gomez, Alex Portillo and Pablo and Eva del Cid. When we travel to origin, cup coffees and experience life, not only are we able to develop relationships and participate in an innovative and exciting trade, but we are able to find the coffees that otherwise would not be heading for North America.

We currently have two coffees on their way from Colombia. A caturron natural, which is intended to be March's coffee of the month, and a strawberry co-ferment. These should be coming in in the next week and we'll get them out asap.

We have a bit of a whirlwind trip planned at the end of March to visit our producer friends in Honduras and Guatemala. We'll also be meeting up with Diego again at the Producer Roaster Forum. There's a lot of good coffee out there. We'll do our best to bring it to Lowville and beyond. It's such an honor to partner with these people in their craft.