Reaching for Coffee Perfection in Colombia

The finest coffees from this geographically diverse country - the world's third largest producer of coffee - come from its southernmost state, Narino. Here, along the slopes of the 13,500-foot Galeras volcano, are some of the world's highest and most prized coffee-growing regions.

For the farmers who tend these slopes, coffee has been a fixture in their livelihoods for generations. And thanks to rigorous sustainability practices and the small size of land holdings, farming here is pesticide-free.

Most the coffee processing takes place on these farms as well. With the help of their families and neighbors, farmers pick, pulp, separate, ferment, wash, and dry their harvest on their own before delivering their parchments to local coffee mills for final drying, sorting, and grading. The most renowned of these mills - not just in Narino, but in all of Colombia - is the Trilladora Narino Mill, run by the legendary Jose Enrique Vasquez.