The Tasting First, Then the Farm: Northwest Antioquia

Most coffee tours finish with the tasting. This one starts with it, which is a better piece of teaching than it sounds: you taste before you know anything, and everything the farmers tell you afterwards has something to attach itself to.

The drive is forty minutes northwest of Medellin, out the San Jeronimo road, and the countryside starts almost immediately.

At the farm, the growers take you through the whole thing: the first seed planted, the cultivation, the processing and the packing of first-class coffee, explained by somebody who does it rather than somebody who has read about it.

Four hours. Private, with your own driver and guide, hotel pick-up and drop-off, lunch, coffee and an insurance policy.

Up to fifteen people, in English or Spanish.

Passport name, number, expiry and country are required at booking for everyone in the party. Moderate fitness. Not recommended if you are pregnant, have a spinal injury or a heart condition. Children need an adult.