El Yalcon is a Colombian speciality coffee produced by 36 small-scale growers in the municipalities of La Plata and Pitalito. These farms range from 1 to 5 hectares and are mostly located at higher altitudes - above 1,500 metres above sea level.

They are also mainly cultivated with traditional varieties such as Caturra.

This year we finally got to visit our partners in Colombia. We spent time in La Plata and Pitalito in the Huila region of Colombia. Here we visited a few producers who contribute to the collective lot that we know as El Yalcon.

One of the farmers we visited was Gloria Isabel Fiesco Garcia at her farm Finca La Reforma. Her farm currently spans 6 hectares, and she is planting a further 3 hectares at the moment. Gloria had had a long history in coffee, having produced coffee for 20 years and learning the ropes from her grandmother when she was a child on the farm. When the coffee leaf rust hit Colombia hard in the 80s, she moved to La Plata and worked as a cook. From there, she met her husband and inherited the farm around a similar time. She’s been there ever since and now has two children.

Dark chocolate with a creamy sweetness and body fills your cup with this coffee. There’s a twist of lemon zest on the side and the finish is crisp and brisk. A textbook example of the classic Huila profile of washed coffees.