Valle del Cauca

Valle del Cauca, the department around Cali in western Colombia, grows coffee almost everywhere: in 93% of its municipalities, on about 50,200 hectares. Its northern coffee towns belong to UNESCO’s Coffee Cultural Landscape, and it stands out for two things: more than half its coffee land is certified sustainable, and nearly a third of its growers are women. Here’s what to know.

The short version

• Caramel and red fruit in the cup, with medium citric acidity.
• About 1,100–2,000 m.
• Main harvest September–December, mitaca March–June.
• About 23,500 coffee families on 50,200 hectares.
• 54% of the coffee area certified to sustainability standards.
• Women are 30% of growers.

What does Valle del Cauca coffee taste like?

The FNC’s official regional profile describes a sweet caramel aroma, flavours of caramel and red fruit, medium, citric acidity and a medium, creamy body. The FNC’s coffee atlas, written with the national research centre Cenicafé, adds a slightly herbal finish with hints of sugar cane. Sample Coffee Roasters lists Typica, Caturra and Castillo as the main varieties. Valle del Cauca has no denomination of origin of its own.

How high is it grown?

The sources differ:

Altitude	Source
1,100–2,000 m, average temperature 19.8 °C	Atlas Cafetero de Colombia (FNC and Cenicafé), figures to 2017
1,450–2,000 m	Sample Coffee Roasters

The atlas counts coffee in 39 municipalities, on both slopes of the Western range and the western slope of the Central range.

When is it harvested?

Twice a year, in step with the two rainy seasons. The atlas gives a main harvest from September to December, with 55% of the crop, and a mitaca from March to June, with 45%. That holds for the centre, east and north of the department; in some south-western municipalities, such as Roldanillo, Restrepo and La Cumbre, the main harvest comes in the first half of the year.

How much coffee does Valle del Cauca grow?

Figure	Value	Source
Area, 2025	50,200 ha	Valle del Cauca’s government, in Semana
Area, 2024	51,600 ha	FNC coffee information system, via Agronegocios
Families	About 23,500	Valle del Cauca’s government, in Semana
Output	More than 627,000 export bags a year on average	Valle del Cauca’s government, in Semana
Municipalities	Coffee in 93% of them	Valle del Cauca’s government, in Semana
Rank	Seventh-largest contributor to Colombia’s coffee exports	Valle del Cauca’s government, in Semana

Coffee makes up 30% of the department’s agricultural economy, Semana reported in December 2025.

Who grows Valle del Cauca’s coffee?

Many of them women. The governor, Dilian Francisca Toro, told Semana that women are 30% of the department’s coffee growers and that more than 13,800 hectares are in the hands of women heads of household. The department’s Valle Café programme, run with the coffee growers’ committee, supplied fertiliser to 2,100 families in 2025, and in October that year took 30 coffee brands from 20 municipalities to the Cafés de Colombia Expo in Bogotá. According to the agriculture secretary, Ángela Reyes, 54% of Valle del Cauca’s coffee area is certified to sustainability standards, and several of its specialty brands have won recognition at international events.

Where does Valle del Cauca fit in the coffee axis?

At its southern end. Wikipedia counts the north and east of Valle del Cauca as part of the Eje Cafetero, alongside Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío, and says UNESCO’s Coffee Cultural Landscape extends south into the department. It was also one of six departments where the FNC surveyed damage to coffee farms after the 10 August 2026 earthquake, Agronegocios reported.

Valle del Cauca and other Colombian origins

• Coffee in Colombia: the whole country, its harvests and its figures.
• Quindío: the heart of the coffee axis.
• Cauca: volcanic soils and bright acidity.
• Caldas: the coffee axis, and home of Cenicafé.