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From Peru I flew directly to Colombia. Juan Pablo picked me up at the airport in Nariño and immediately invited me to his cousin's birthday party in Pasto. We celebrated until five in the morning, and with quite a hangover, we continued the next day to the impressively clear lake Laguna de la Cocha, located at 3,000 meters above sea level. When we were able to eat again, we had trucha - trout - straight from the lake, combined with patacones de platano frito. This flattened and deep-fried plantain is eaten as a side dish, just as we eat French fries. After this brilliant introduction, we went straight on to the farm.

Finca Churupampa was the declared destination when I boarded the plane in Frankfurt in September. Because here, in Chirinos, in the north of Peru, lives the Toccto family. They have been growing organic and FairTrade certified specialty coffee in a cooperative since 2011. It took me a good 20 hours to get there: I took the plane to Frankfurt, Bogotà, Lima and Jaén. In Jaén, Lenin Toccto, Eduardo and Sandra picked me up. Together we drove for about two hours until we finally arrived at the farm.

On April 18, 2021, in the middle of the Corona lockdown, it started - vaccinated, I set off to visit Juan Pablo in Colombia. The declared goal: to find the best coffee, expand my personal relationship to coffee farmers, and discover new horizons!

My journey took me zigzagging to Calí, into the jungle of the Sierra Nevada, to Bogotá, Medellín, Pasto (with its dangerous airport high in the mountains), Nariño and Bucaramanga. I talked to roasters, drank coffee in countless small and large cafés and at street stands, felt the altitude of the plantation (the air gets thin up there!) and learned a lot about coffee, Colombia and its cultivation.