Colombia
Nariño
560+ Smallholders producers
Smallholders farms
Castillo and Colombia
Washed
2025 - 2026
Agua Panela, Brown Spice, Lemon, Brown Sugar, Citrus, Delicate, Floral, Honey
2700 meters
N/A
70 Kg W/GrainPro
EU - Hamburg, Germany - Schwarze
USA - New Jersey - CTI
USA - Oakland, CA - Annex - CTI
Cordillera brings together coffees from smallholder producers across five municipalities in Nariño: Cumbitara, Leiva, El Rosario, Policarpa, and Los Andes (Sotomayor).
The coffee is part of a rural development initiative led by Colombia’s Agencia de Desarrollo Rural (ADR), which supports 560 coffee-growing families across these municipalities. The project focuses on strengthening coffee production through crop renovation, improved varieties, technical assistance, agricultural inputs, and collective commercialization.
These communities are in a region historically affected by conflict and illicit crops. Through stronger producer organizations and new productive opportunities, coffee is becoming an important part of the transition toward more sustainable local economies and a more peaceful future for the territory.
In Cumbitara, where coffee production has developed more recently, producers are building a specialty coffee sector around varieties including Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, and Typica. Coffees from the broader project are processed using washed and anaerobic methods, with farms located at different elevations across the five municipalities.
For these smallholder producers, access to reliable markets has been one of the greatest challenges. By bringing producers together, the project has created a pathway to consolidate their coffees and reach international buyers.
The first commercial consolidation brought together approximately 20.4 metric tons of coffee, marking the first export of specialty coffee from the initiative under the name Café Cordillera.
For Ally Coffee, Cordillera represents the beginning of a new relationship with producers in this part of Nariño, connecting coffees from a region undergoing significant transformation with specialty coffee buyers around the world.
This Castillo and Colombia blend undergoes a carefully controlled washed process. Ripe cherries are selectively handpicked and sorted before being placed in ozone-disinfected GrainPro bags for three days of fermentation. After pulping, the coffee undergoes a secondary two-day fermentation before being washed and dried slowly on raised beds.
Once dried, the coffee is transported to Invercafé in Chinchiná, Caldas, where it is milled and prepared for export under controlled conditions. This final stage helps preserve the coffee’s consistency and quality throughout its journey to the international market.
Nariño is one of Colombia’s 32 Departments. It shares a southern border with Ecuador and is home to thousands of smallholder coffee producing families. Colombia’s three ranges of Andean mountains converge in Nariño, presenting ideal altitudes and fertile soil for high grown Arabica production.
Nariño’s geography and proximity to coastal and land borders have historically transformed it into a corridor for illicit trade routes, resulting in unwarranted violence against residents of remote mountain farms. Today, thanks to the particularly resilient and fearless spirit of Nariño’s farmers, the small region is a respected nucleus of coffee innovation.
