Award Winning Artisan Coffee Tour – Pereira

Alto de la Mina Overview

The Alto de la Mina Coffee Route is a fantastic way to experience the Colombian Cultural Coffee Landscape.

Your tour begins in the morning in one of two traditional towns, Pereira or Santa Rosa de Cabal, depending on your location. You will travel in a traditional Jeep Willy, a vehicle used predominantly in this area of the country.

You’ll wind through beautiful green mountains and a flowing river with beautiful views of Manizales and the valley. Breathe deeply as you drive through plantain laden and coffee speckled hills and valleys. Stand up in the Jeep for a panoramic view of coffee country – it’s breathtaking!

After your scenic ascent, you will arrive at El Sinai, a family owned coffee finca. This finca grows its own coffee and processes award-winning sun-dried coffee from neighboring farm “Finca el Descanso”, owned by Señor Rios, who has a passion for biodiversity and excellent, award-winning coffee. His farm (which is not open to tourism at this point) has wide variety of flora including plantain trees, corn, fruit trees, lemon grass, beans, vegetables, and of course, the star of the show, coffee plants. All of these plants help to create a bio-diverse environment that enhances the quality of all of the plants, but most importantly the coffee.

At El Sinai, you will be guided through the entire coffee process, from plant to cup. Cesar has the most humorous pictorial representations of the history, origin, and demographics of coffee. You will see coffee plants, learn about the growing and harvesting process, and see coffee drying in the sun.

Cesar explains what makes Colombian coffee special, and what kind of beans it takes to make a good cup of coffee. Cesar has devised ingenious recycled machines to mill, roast and grind the coffee he buys from his neighbor, Señor Rios. You’ll have the opportunity to work the machinery, if you like. It really is quite fascinating and your guide is incredibly friendly and knowledgable. And…oh the smells…the scent of the earth, fermenting fruit, green coffee drying in the sun…and then another cup of coffee to savor.

Delicious smells. Delicious coffee.

After your coffee tour you’ll head to a locally owned restaurant for a traditional Colombian lunch, followed by yet another cup of coffee.

After lunch you will take a walking tour to boulders with ancient petroglyph markings. Local children have worked closely with archeologists from Manizales to learn about the history and significance of the petroglyphs, and share this information with tourists who visit.

Return to El Sinai for a final farewell (and possibly one more cup of coffee). If you are visiting on a Sunday, you will have the opportunity to visit the cafe on site and try an iced coffee – a delicious blended concoction of coffee, milk, ice and sugar. Yum!

It’s been a long and wonderful day. You’ll ride the Jeep Willy through the heart of coffee country back to Santa Rosa de Cabal or Periera.

Now, will you be able to sleep tonight after drinking multiple cups of coffee? If not, the day’s adventure was well worth a sleepless night.