CERRO AZUL, Colombia (SCA Score 90.8)

Ricardo Peña founded Coffee Gems in Chippenham, Wiltshire, drawing on a childhood spent on his grandparents' coffee estate in the Huila region of Colombia. He remembers the plantations blooming with white flowers and his grandmother roasting beans in a copper pot. After more than 15 years in the UK specialty coffee industry, Ricardo built a roastery focused exclusively on coffees scoring 86 or higher on the SCA scale, placing the entire range well above the specialty threshold. Sourcing is hands on, with visits to farmers in Peru and El Salvador, including Cup of Excellence winner Ever Diaz in the Chalatenango region. The roasting approach aims to enhance what the producer has already achieved rather than imposing a house style, and full pricing transparency traces each coffee from farmer to warehouse.