JAntioquia: A January in Colombia’s Coffee Country

Every origin trip has a life of its own. Some go exactly to plan. Others — the ones you end up remembering most — require a little improvisation. Our January 2026 trip to Antioquia, Colombia, which we call JAntioquia (January in Antioquia), was firmly an example of the latter. And we loved it for that.

The group was small but enthusiastic: Kamil and Roma from Momento Coffee in Rzeszów, Poland, and Charlie from Redroaster in Brighton, UK. For Roma and Charlie, it was their first origin trip — which always makes a week like this feel a little more special. Seeing someone experience a coffee farm for the first time, watching them reach for a red cherry on a tree or walk into a washing station for the first time, never gets old.

When Plans Change (and Colombia Comes Through)

Before we even started, the itinerary needed rethinking. Our planned Monday visit to a producer in Urrao had to be scrapped after an armed group set up camp on his farm the day before — installing illegal gold-mining machines just outside his property. The Penderisco River valley, which winds through Urrao at around 2,000 masl, is reportedly rich in gold, and with Colombian presidential elections on the horizon, a period historically associated with increased instability, it wasn’t the right time to head that way.

These are realities of working in a country as complex and layered as Colombia. But if there’s one thing Colombia is equally good at, it’s finding a way forward. Within hours, our partners at Pergamino had helped us rearrange the week, and we were back on track.

Monday — Inside Pergamino’s Operation

We kicked off the week at Pergamino’s Distribution Center, known as the CEDI, just outside Medellín’s Poblado district, before heading to the farms of Loma Verde and Agua Linda in the afternoon.

The CEDI is the nerve centre of Pergamino’s entire operation — offices, roastery, coffee shops food prep, and training all under one roof. All suppliers deliver here, and the CEDI distributes to the shops, keeping logistics clean and the cafés running smoothly.

The scale of what Pergamino has built is genuinely awe-inspiring. Now in its 14th year, the company operates 12 cafés across Medellín (including two at the airport), employs nearly 400 people, and is roasting an impressive amount of coffee every month. They recently acquired their second roaster, a Probat this time.

For our attendees, the roasting volumes were genuinely hard to get their heads around — in the best possible way. It’s a powerful reminder of what a commitment to quality, over time, can look like.

In the afternoon, we drove up to Santa Bárbara to visit Loma Verde and Agua Linda — the two farms where Pergamino’s main mills are based. La Joyería sits on Loma Verde, and the current farm blend draws on both farms’ highest elevation lots (1,800–2,000 masl). The Naturals and Extended Fermentations are processed at Agua Linda, as many of you will know from our offer list.

Over the years, Pergamino has scaled back its total farm area from 400ha to around 120ha, concentrating on their best-performing, highest-altitude plots. Some farms have been decommissioned and repurposed; others replanted with endemic species. The focus has shifted firmly toward their allied producer programme, which now spans over 2,000 smallholder growers across Antioquia, Huila, Nariño, Cauca, and Tolima — accounting for more than 80% of their exports.

Tuesday — Don Rubén and the Real Juan Valdez

A three-hour drive from Medellín brought us to Caicedo and Finca El Faldón, where we visited Rubén Darío Gómez — Pergamino’s highest-altitude supplier at 2,200 masl, and something of a living legend. Some people call him the real Juan Valdez, and after spending a few hours with him, it’s hard to argue.

Don Rubén is a natural storyteller, always laughing, always with a story to tell, and the visit was one of the highlights of the week. We got a close look at his five-day selective picking method — widely practised in the Urrao and Caicedo areas, and the same principle behind the extended fermentation lots you’ll find in our Agua Linda offerings. He also walked us through his coffee duct system: a network of PVC piping that carries freshly harvested cherry from the upper farm all the way down to the wet mill below. A brilliant, practical solution to a steep terrain challenge.

Thursday — Finca Los Alpes and a Very Long Lunch

Back in Santa Bárbara, we visited Finca Los Alpes — owned by Carlos Emilio Vélez, cousin of Luis Emilio Vélez of the well-known Finca Cocondo. Some of you may remember Cocondo from our offer list a few years back, when it was the only organic-certified farm in all of Antioquia.

Carlos is, to put it simply, a force of nature. Talkative, hilarious, and — having studied in the US — comfortable enough in English to keep the group entertained from arrival to departure. And we were there for a while. We pulled in at 10am and didn’t leave until 8:30pm, at which point Carlos’s wife had fed us snacks, poured the wine, brought out the aguardiente, and introduced us to a local moonshine called Tapetuza. Some days just unfold that way.

The farm’s backstory is wonderful. In 1985, the Vélez family traded a 350ha cattle ranch they owned in Urabá, Antioquia, for what was then a modest 3ha plot — beautiful house, incredible views, and not much else. Cattle continued until 1991, when Carlos planted his first 1,500 coffee trees. Today the farm has grown to 30ha and 100,000 trees, with a mix of Caturra, Tabi, Chiroso, Gesha, and Castillo. The terrain is steep, and the washing station sits atop of the farm, with the coffee plantation at the bottom of the hill, so cherry is moved around the farm by mule — what Carlos lovingly calls his “shitting fleet.”

His farming philosophy is one of low intervention: working with nature rather than against it, using minimal agrochemicals and largely organic fertilisation.

Friday — Cupping at the Mill (and a Name Worth Knowing)

We wrapped up the week at Pergamino’s mill, where Pedro gave us a full tour and we sat down for a cupping session — a fitting close to a packed few days.

We also asked Pedro something we’d always been curious about: where does the name Pergamino come from? The answer is elegant: Pergamino is the Spanish word for parchment — the thin layer that wraps and protects the coffee bean before milling. For Pedro, it was never just a name. It’s a statement of intent: keepers and protectors of quality. Their logo — a parchment opening to reveal the bean inside — says it all.

You can listen to our full conversation with Pedro about Pergamino’s model, the challenges facing specialty coffee, and the realities of rural Colombia here.

Colombia never disappoints. Even when things don’t go to plan — especially when things don’t go to plan — the country has a way of offering something unexpected and memorable in return. JAntioquia was no exception, and we’re already looking forward to the next one.

Interested in joining a future origin trip? Get in touch with your account manager to find out what we have coming up.