Jose Espinosa El Recreo Geisha Anaerobic Natural

Jose Espinoza was born on Finca El Recreo. He left the farm at 17 to herd livestock but returned later in life when he inherited the farm from his father. He father planted other crops but Jose believed coffee would be a good choice for his livelihood. When he worked with livestock, he noticed that coffee was being replace by avocado farms and believed that planting coffee was the way to go. In 2016, he and his wife, planted their first coffee trees.  

Today, Jose Espinoza and his wife live on Finca El Recreo with their two sons and grandchild. They live in a community surrounded by Jose’s extended family, including his brothers.  

Jose has plans to begin purchasing cherry from his neighbors and expand his processing infrastructure.  

Finca El Recreo is located in the Algeciras subregion of Huila, Colombia, at an elevation of 1,700 to 1,800 meters above sea level. This altitude, combined with the region's rich volcanic soil and ideal weather conditions, creates the perfect environment for producing specialty coffees. Huila's coffee is known for its bright acidity, complex flavors, and fruity notes contributing to Huila's reputation as a leader in Colombia's coffee industry. While Finca El Recreo is primarily planted with Castillo, this lot comes from a dedicated Geisha plot. Inspired by the excitement surrounding the Geisha variety, Jose decided to cultivate a small section of his farm with this exotic coffee. Leveraging his expertise in producing naturals, being one of the first in his region to embrace this processing method, Jose processed his Geisha harvest in the same way, resulting in this exceptional lot. 

Jose and his sons first started producing Naturals in June 2020. Now, nearly 80% of their harvest is produced using Natural and Anaerobic Natural processing.  

When one of his sons became interested in alternative processing methods, Jose and his sons reached out to Yonatan Gonzales at Cuatro Vientos. Everyone in Algeciras uses Fully washed processing for their coffees, so they had to reach outside their community to gain to knowledge. Yonatan helped them understand yields, costs and sale price and they decided it was a profitable method.  

To make their Naturals successful, they’ve expanded their drying capacity and built solar drying modules. In addition to better prices, Jose likes that Natural processing uses far less water than Fully washed processing and is better for the environment.  

Ripe, red cherry is selectively handpicked and floated to remove underripes and damaged cherry. Then, cherry is fermented in sealed plastic tanks for 80 hours. Following fermentation, cherry is laid on marquesinas to dry. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes around 25 days for cherry to dry.  

The Huila region is one of the most well-known coffee growing areas of Colombia. The Department of Huila has a population of 1.125 million and is located in the southwest of the country. The capital of the department is Neiva, a city of about 380,000.  

Along with Cauca and Nariño, Huila is one the three departments where the Colombian Massif is located. A massif is a group of mountain ranges and the Colombian Massif, which is known locally as Nudo de Almaguer, provides up to 70% of safe drinking and agricultural water for the Colombian population. 

The Magdalena River, Colombia’s largest river, runs through the region, providing plenty of water for coffee farming and generating (directly and indirectly) up to 86% of Colombia's GDP. The mountain range also features the fertile volcanic soil so typical to the Andean Mountains. 

Geisha (also known as Gesha) is known for its exceptional cup quality, especially when grown at high altitudes. The variety comes from Ethiopian landrace coffees and was collected from Ethiopian coffee forests in the 1930s. The name supposedly derives from Ethiopia’s Gori Gesha forest.

There is some confusion with several genetically distinct varieties that have all been called Geisha, but the most famous variety is the Panama one. The variety was brought to Lyamungu research station in Tanzania and from there to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953. At CATIE, the variety was logged as T2722. CATIE distributed T2722 across Panama in the 1960s for its Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) resistance, but its brittle branches meant it was not widely planted.

Panama Geisha reached its modern fame in 2005 when a Geisha lot won the “Best of Panama” competition and broke contemporary records at over $20/pound. DNA analysis has demonstrated that the Panama Geisha descended from T2722 is distinct and uniform. Today, Geisha is known for its delicate florals, jasmine and stone fruit.

Cuatro Vientos is a family-owned exporter based in Colombia. Founded in 2018 by Julian & Yonatan Gonzalez and based in Huila, the company is named after the Gonzalez’s first farmnwhere the brothers spent much of their childhood.  Yonatan and Julian learned much of what they know from their father, Armando Gonzalez who was a “pergaminero,” someone who bought and sold parchment coffee. Sucafina has worked with Cuatro Vientos since 2021. 

Through their partnership with Sucafina, Cuatro Vientos is able to more effectively reach new markets. This, in turn, means they can work with more farmers and develop better programs to support their farmers.

Cuatro Vientos has 3 purchasing points in Huila: Acevedo, Santa Maria and Algeciras. These points are more than just places where they buy coffee, though. They are service hubs where farmers can access services to maintain quality and reach new markets. For Cuatro Vientos, farmers are long term partners who are focused on quality.

With these three locations, Cuatro Vientos is able to source fresh coffee year-round. In their unique position across Huila, they can tap into two alternative harvest seasons within Huila. The northern Huila harvest occurs in the first half of the year and the southern Huilaharvest happens during the second half of the year, providing high-quality coffees year round.

They also own 2 warehouses that are strategically placed in Acevedo (in Southern Huila) and Campo Alegre (in Northern Huila). The warehouses provide an array of important services to farmers. Farmers can dry their coffee, store dried parchment in silos and learn to grade and evaluate coffees in the cupping labs. 

Cuatros Vientos adds value by offering logistics and milling support to the over 30 farms that they work with. These farmers are all specialty oriented and Cuatro Vientos’ focus on specialty processing helps farmers ensure that their coffees are handled properly.

One of Cuatro Vientos’ biggest impacts is their credit line offerings. Growers need financing at the beginning of the harvest and it is difficult for them to access financing through traditional banks due to a lack of financial documentation. By providing financing through their partner, Bancolombia, Cuatro Vientos is supporting long term farmer profitability. They also provide financial education workshops that increase farmers’ financial literacy and promotes overall success.  

They also provide marketing services for farmers, helping them manage samples and tell their stories. Importantly, they act as an integral part of a two-way conversation between producers and roasters about what they’re looking for, what they can do and how they can best achieve the results they’re looking for.