What Is the Colombia Land of Diversity Coffee Quality Competition

The ninth Colombia Land of Diversity (LOD) competition drew 1,018 growers from 13 producing regions, and 30 coffees reached the finals after two rounds of screening. The top auction lot, a washed Geisha from Finca Anona in Buesaco, Nariño, sold for 66.50 USD per pound. The auction took 546 bids and totaled 375,637.01 USD, with an average price of 20.06 USD per pound.

LOD was created in 2016, when the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) broke away from the Cup of Excellence system to run its own national coffee quality contest. It now sits inside FNC strategy, promoting the diversity of Colombian coffee flavor, differentiation and added value, and aiming to lift farmer income. A tenth edition is expected in 2025.

The Colombia Land of Diversity (LOD) competition is a national-level coffee quality contest in the country, ranking alongside COE and BOP. The ninth edition brought together 1,018 growers from 13 producing regions, and after two rounds of screening, 30 coffees entered the finals. The top auction lot was a washed Geisha from Nariño, fetching as much as 66.50 USD per pound. This article walks you through the origins of LOD, its competition format, how it differs from COE, and a preview of the tenth edition in 2025, along with a recommendation from Front Street Coffee.

Recently, Colombia successfully held the ninth Land of Diversity (LOD) competition and auction. Over a three-month schedule, the organizing committee received coffee samples from 1,018 growers across 13 Colombian coffee-producing regions. After two rounds of rigorous screening, 30 coffees ultimately stood out and made it into the finals, while the five LOD-exclusive specialty awards were also selected.

This LOD auction was held both online and offline simultaneously, with a total of 546 bids. The top lot came from Finca Anona in Buesaco, Nariño — a washed Geisha that reached a bid price of 66.50 USD per pound. The average price across the entire auction was 20.06 USD per pound, with total auction sales amounting to 375,637.01 USD.

Many people may ask, what exactly is the Colombia LOD competition? Simply put, it is similar in nature to the Cup of Excellence (COE) and Best of Panama (BOP) — it is Colombia's national-level coffee quality competition.

However, LOD does not have as long a history as BOP, having held only nine editions so far. As early as 2005, Colombia began holding the COE competition, and it was not until 2016 that the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) decided to break away from the COE evaluation system and independently create a national-level coffee quality competition — this is the Colombia Land of Diversity (LOD).

According to reports, the competition has now become an important part of FNC's strategic planning, aimed at enhancing the quality, differentiation, and added value of Colombian coffee across the entire value chain, spreading awareness of the diversity and variety of Colombian coffee flavors, attracting domestic and international attention to Colombian specialty coffee, and ultimately increasing the income of Colombian coffee farmers.

Colombian coffee is mainly grown in the central-western Andean mountain region. The Andes consist of three cordilleras — eastern, central, and western — with an average elevation exceeding 3,000 meters, and numerous volcanoes are scattered throughout. The high altitude and complex geographical environment together create diverse microclimates, and these microclimates run through multiple Colombian coffee-producing regions, meaning there is basically a harvest season throughout the year, with different types of coffee ripening in succession at different times.

Therefore, LOD arranges its schedule according to Colombia's two coffee harvest seasons: one edition is held in March-April of the first half of the year, mainly evaluating beans harvested from September to December of the previous year; the next edition is held in September-October of the following year, mainly evaluating beans harvested from May to August. Typically, one competition mainly covers the central and northern coffee-producing regions, while the other mainly covers the central and southern coffee-producing regions. Together, the two competitions can cover all of Colombia's coffee and its flavor characteristics.

This is also the original intention behind FNC's creation of LOD. FNC believed that the COE competition is held only once a year, and during that period some Colombian coffee-producing regions are still in harvest season and cannot participate in COE, thus missing many opportunities. Recently, FNC also announced that the 2024 COE competition would be postponed to the first half of 2025, at which time many coffees from producing regions that previously had no chance to appear will be featured, which will also help raise the profile of these regions and showcase Colombia's diverse coffee-producing areas.

In addition, what makes LOD special is that its awards are not limited to just one champion bean; the competition also distinguishes between small lots and large lots. This is because in Colombia's early years, frequent wars led to large numbers of coffee plantations being abandoned. Later, to save the coffee industry, the government consolidated wasteland and divided it into small plots, selling them to farmers at extremely low prices, and to this day Colombia still is dominated by smallholder farmers.

The large-lot category in the competition is mainly aimed at coffee produced by larger estates, selecting the Best Estate and awarding a prize of 25 million pesos. The small-lot category is mainly aimed at coffee produced by small estates or farmers, and based on characteristics is divided into five major awards: Best Acidity, Best Body, Best Softness, Best Balance, and Best Exotic. All these awards require dual selection by domestic and international judges, ultimately selecting the green beans that enter the finals and go to auction.

Afterward, FNC also announced that the tenth Land of Diversity (LOD) competition would be held in northern Colombia in March 2025, at which time high-quality coffees produced in northern regions such as Santander and Antioquia will appear.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.