Image: Caffeine & Co studio
The Coffee Atlas
Colombia Tolima Planadas
Planadas, Tolima: smallholder lots grown at roughly 1,500-2,100 m that cup chocolaty, nutty and deeply sweet, with scores averaged from Coffee Review lots.
Flavor profile
avg. of 3 published reviewsScale: 1-10, Coffee Review / SCA-classic-form convention. Averaged from 3 independently published, dated Coffee Review scores of Planadas lots (Sep 2018, Dec 2020, Nov 2021). Two are washed (JBC Coffee Roasters, SkyTop Coffee) and one is a natural-processed Yellow Caturra (Jaunt Coffee Roasters), so the average blends processing styles and is not a washed-only profile. All three are roaster-submitted specialty lots scoring 91-93, not a category-wide sample, and individual lots vary by farm, cooperative, variety, and roast.
What it tastes like
Planadas is the part of Tolima that specialty buyers tend to name. Where Colombia Tolima mostly ships as an anonymous department-level label, Planadas lots arrive with a cooperative on the bag: ASOPEP, which Sustainable Harvest describes as founded in 2013 and, with 275 members, the largest association in Tolima.
The cup that comes out of those lots is chocolate-first. Coffee Review’s JBC Coffee Roasters review of an ASOPEP lot found dark chocolate, mulberry, and dried mushroom with a savory edge, and SkyTop Coffee’s washed Planadas lot read as baking chocolate, almond butter, and nougat with gentle, round acidity. Acidity is the quiet attribute here: all three reviewed lots scored it an 8, with the sweetness and body doing the talking.
The outlier shows how much processing moves the result. Jaunt Coffee Roasters’ natural-processed Yellow Caturra from the same municipality tasted of Concord grape, baking spices, and tea rose, with a very full, viscous body, a long way from the washed lots’ chocolate and almond. Because this entry’s averages blend two washed lots with that one natural, treat the numbers as a Planadas neighborhood sketch, and read the processing line on a bag before assuming which cup you will get.
How to brew it
Method fit for this origin · editorial guidance from roaster convention
A medium roast on a filter keeps the gentle, round acidity and chocolate-and-almond sweetness the reviewed washed lots are built around.
Roasters commonly sell Planadas as an everyday espresso because its sweetness and satiny body hold up in a shot and in milk.
Immersion emphasizes the chocolate and body, but it softens the lighter floral and fruit edges.
⚠ Fit tiers are editorial guidance drawn from roaster convention; no industry standard scores brew fit, so we show tiers, never invented numbers. Reflects brew guidance commonly published by specialty roasters for washed Colombia lots, not an SCA-defined standard or measured data.
Altitude & region
Growing elevation, meters above sea level · this entry vs comparison bands
Planadas' own band is directly sourced from trader and roaster listings (see Sources & data) and individual farms vary within it. Colombia Huila, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, and Brazil Cerrado are shown for scale only, using the bands already published elsewhere in this Atlas, not lot-specific measurements.
Caffeine content
Caffeine by dry weight · each gold dot = 0.1%
Caffeine content tracks species, not origin, altitude, or processing: roughly 1.2% for Arabica versus roughly 2.2% for Robusta, close to double (see Sources & data). This entry is 100% Arabica; no credible per-origin caffeine figure exists at a category level, so any comparison is by species only.
Where to buy it
Transparency: some links on this site are affiliate links; if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Roasters are picked for genuine, current sourcing of this coffee, never for who pays us.
Edmonton roaster that has listed a washed Castillo/Colombia/Caturra lot from the Magia del Campo producer in Planadas, via the ASOPEP cooperative (listing on Third Wave marketplace; check current availability).
View lot→Madison, Wisconsin roaster whose ASOPEP Planadas lot was reviewed by Coffee Review; browse the shop for the current Colombia offering.
View lot→Roaster with a Colombia Planadas product page; confirm the lot details and current availability on the page.
View lot→Selection is wide and inconsistent for this specific municipality: check roast dates, confirm the bag actually names Planadas rather than generic Colombian, and read recent seller reviews before buying.
View lot→Sources & data
- Coffee Review: ASOPEP Colombia, JBC Coffee RoastersCupping scores (1 of 3 averaged); September 2018; washed lot from Planadas, Tolima via the ASOPEP and AGPROCEM cooperatives; Castillo, Caturra, Colombia, Typica
- Coffee Review: Colombia Planadas, SkyTop CoffeeCupping scores (2 of 3 averaged); December 2020; washed lot, medium roast, Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, Typica
- Coffee Review: Colombia Planadas Tolima, Jaunt Coffee RoastersCupping scores (3 of 3 averaged); November 2021; natural-processed Yellow Caturra from producer Jorge Elias Rojas Vasquez
- Sustainable Harvest: ASOPEPAssociation founded 2013; 275 members; altitude 1,600-2,100 m; varieties Colombia, Castillo, Caturra, Tabi; harvest September through November
- The Way to Coffee: Planadas Espresso, Tolima, ColombiaAltitude cross-check (1,500-2,100 m); Caturra and Castillo; washed; produced by the Asopep group of small producers
- Third Wave: Colombia Magia del Campo VLI, Planadas, TolimaAltitude cross-check (1,600-1,950 m); Castillo, Colombia, Caturra; washed; ASOPEP cooperative
- Coffee Review: scoring methodology1-10 attribute scale definition
- Development of a fast and simple method to identify pure Arabica coffee and blended coffee by Infrared Spectroscopy (J. Food Sci. Technol., 2021, PMC8292507)Peer-reviewed, open-access: "Arabica beans usually presents 1.0 to 1.5% w.w-1 of caffeine and Robusta beans presents 2.0 to 2.5% w.w-1" (quoted verbatim), source for this entry's 1.2% Arabica / 2.2% Robusta figures