COLUMBIA
Most of Colombia's coffee is grown at height altitudes on small peasant holdings, and wet-processed. Columbia sells well in specialty stores only because it is the sole name on the menu that coffee neophytes recognize. These "privates" often offer coffees produced exclusively from traditional, heirloom varieties of Coffea arabica like typica and bourbon, rather than from a mixture of varieties including newer, federation-sponsored hybrid cultivars like the controversial var. columbia. Colombia coffee at its finest is a classic. No quality is extreme. The body tends to be medium, the acidity vibrant but not overbearing, and the cup lively and nuanced by understated fruit tones.

PERU
Generally a mildly acid coffee, light-bodies but flavorful and aromatic, Peru is considered a good blender owing to its pleasant but understated character. Peru also is widely used in dark-roasted blends and as a base for flavorful coffees. But the best Peru coffees are subtly exceptional: light and levitating with a vanilla-nut-toned sweetness that deserves appreciation as a distinctive specialty origin. Wet-processed coffee from the Chanchamayo Valley, has the best reputation of the Peru coffees. The Cuzco region, particularly the Urumbamba Valley, also produces respected, wet-processed coffee.