Producer

The Inga people of Aponte are descendants of pre-Hispanic Incas who settled in the high mountains of what is now southern Colombia during the period of Spanish conquest. For centuries, the altitude and remoteness kept them isolated, and the community did not resume significant contact with the rest of the country until the second half of the 19th century. About 5,000 Inga still live in Aponte today, most of them speaking both Spanish and their native Inga Kichwa, a dialect of Quechua.
Their recent history is harder. Through the 1990s and into the 2000s, guerrilla groups, drug traffickers, and paramilitaries forced the community into poppy and heroin production. The once-peaceful mountains became a corridor of violence. But the Inga organised under the Wasikama movement, a name meaning "guardians of the land," and fought to reclaim their territory. They recovered over 22,000 hectares, set aside nearly 18,000 of them as sacred protected land, and replaced the illegal crops with coffee.
Today, coffee is grown on smallholder plots across the Resguardo Inga Aponte, governed communally by a cabildo, a council of elders who uphold ancestral traditions and collective decision-making. Each producer processes their own harvest on their own property, drying honey coffee on stacked raised-bed solar dryers built to catch the cold winds that sweep through the valley. Around 80 % of Aponte's production is honey processed, a method that reduces water use and aligns with the community's philosophy of Sumak Kawsay: good living, in balance with the earth.

Region

Aponte sits in the municipality of Tablón de Gómez, in Colombia's Nariño department, where the country's three Andean mountain ranges converge before continuing south into Ecuador. Coffee here grows at an average of 2,150 meters, making it one of the highest-altitude lots we have ever offered. The active Galeras volcano, just to the west, constantly sheds nutrient-rich ash across the surrounding hillsides, feeding the soil with minerals that contribute to the coffee's sweetness and complexity.
The climate is defined by cold mountain winds, heavy mists, and the constant moisture of a páramo ecosystem. Cool temperatures slow cherry maturation significantly, concentrating sugars and producing denser, harder beans. Despite ongoing geological instability (a fault line runs through the centre of town, and parts of the village have been slowly collapsing for years) and a history of conflict and isolation, Nariño's farmers have turned the region into one of Colombia's most respected specialty coffee origins.

Variety

Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, first discovered in Brazil in the 1930s and widely adopted across Latin America for its compact size, high productivity, and excellent cup quality. It is shorter than Typica or Bourbon, which makes it easier to pick, and it responds well to high-altitude growing conditions.
At Aponte's elevation, Caturra slows down considerably. The cold nights and persistent cloud cover extend the maturation period, allowing the cherry to develop a level of sweetness and acidity that lower-altitude Caturra rarely achieves. The variety is well suited to the Inga community's smallholder model: productive enough to sustain a family on a small plot, but capable of real complexity when the terroir and processing are right.

Process

This lot is honey processed, meaning the cherry skin is removed but the sticky mucilage layer is left on the bean during drying. After hand-picking at peak ripeness, the coffee is pulped on each producer's own property and laid out on stacked raised-bed solar dryers. The cold winds that sweep through Aponte's high valley slow the drying process naturally, giving the mucilage time to ferment gently around the seed and impart sweetness without overwhelming the cup with fruit.
The honey method uses significantly less water than a traditional washed process, which matters in a community that has made environmental stewardship central to its identity. The result is a cup that sits between washed and natural in character: the citrus acidity stays clean and bright, but the body and sweetness carry more depth than a fully washed coffee would. The cocoa note in the aftertaste is a signature of this slower, wind-assisted drying.