Southern high-altitude department whose protected profile tends toward high acidity, medium body and sweet, clean cups.
Nariño sits in Colombia's Southern Zone, close to the equator, and its coffee grows at up to about 2,300 m on soils derived from Galeras volcanic ash. About 90% of the main crop is picked between April and July, and there is a single rainy season from October to May. Coffee is produced in 37 of its municipalities. Cenicafé finds more than 97% of the department's coffee above 1,300 m, 88% above 1,500 m and 49% above 1,800 m. A peer-reviewed study puts the department at 1,300-2,100 m, so the 1,300-2,300 m range here is the span the sources together support.
Field notes
- i
Cenicafé reports that 49% of Nariño's coffee grows above 1,800 m, and that the coffee zone averages 19.6 °C.
- ii
The warmest Nariño coffee sits in the Patía basin and its tributaries the Juanambú and Guáitara, where Cenicafé records means above 22 °C.
- iii
A 2011 FNC presentation counted 33,340 Nariño coffee growers, with an average farm of 1.52 ha and an average coffee plot of just 0.64 ha.
In the cup, according to guides
- AcidityMoreThe protected Café de Nariño profile specifies high acidity, medium body, sweet notes and a clean, soft cup with a pronounced aroma.
Processing
Elsewhere in Colombia
Sources · 5 Every sentence here was checked against a source we read. Taste notes are what guides describe, not promises about your bag. Last revised 2026-11-10.
- Colombian Coffee Regions And Varieties · Royal Coffee
- Café de Colombia (Spanish Wikipedia) · Wikipedia
- Vulnerabilidad de la caficultura de Nariño a la broca del café en diferentes eventos climáticos (Avance Técnico 514) · Cenicafé (FNC)
- Caracterización física de café especial (Coffea arabica) en el municipio de Chachagüí (Nariño, Colombia) · Revista Lasallista de Investigación (Corporación Universitaria Lasallista), vol. 12 no. 1, 2015
- Geographical indications: the Colombian coffee regional denominations of origin (FNC presentation, June 2011) · Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, for WIPO