Finca La Esperanza FW - Marco Rodriguez

Marco Tulio Rodriquez ’s Finca La Esperanza is in Tuluá, a city in the northern part of the Valle del Cauca department. Finca Esperanza is one of the higher-altitude farms in the region, where average altitudes are between 1,400 and 1,800 meters above sea level. Most coffee in the region—including Marco’s—is Fully washed. 

Marco is a member of the Cooperative de Caficultores de Sevilla (Cafisevilla), a cooperative that was founded in 1960. At the time, many coffee farmers in Sevilla, Valle del Cauca felt that the existing purchasing system was not benefiting producers. Due to excess supply and a lack of infrastructure to transport or store coffee, purchasers had immense power to determine prices. The system was also very inefficient. Farmers could wait in line for hours only to have their harvest rejected when they finally reached the front of the line. There were 183 original members. Since then, their numbers have climbed, and the role of Cafisevilla has continued to evolve to better support its members. 

Beginning in 1982, the cooperative began moving towards creating more communally-held resources and benefits. Over the following decades, they purchased a roasting machine to add value to their coffees and sell roasted beans on the domestic market, created a workshop for women to manufacture clothing and earn additional income and employed doctors to teach preventative measures to community members. Today, the cooperative continues to help its members by offering technical assistance, access to credit, farmer outreach and training, and a variety of inputs and materials at their agricultural supply warehouse. All of these services have gone into supporting Marco’s efforts to produce the best possible coffee that he can.

At under 3 hectares, Marco’s farm is small but well cared for. Coffee in Tuluá is often intercropped with fruit trees, plantains and banana that provide shade for growing cherry. Marco plants citrus trees and plantains as his shade trees. These trees also function as subsistence and cash crops. Marco is assisted greatly by Cafisevilla, who provide technical support and assistance with many cultivation practices.

Marco selectively handpicks and pulps his cherry. After pulping, beans are wet fermented and then washed in clean water before being laid to dry in the sun on the flat roofs of his home and warehouse. Parchment dries for approximately 10 days and then rests for 1 to 2 months at the cooperative warehouse before it’s transported to Invercafe Dry Mill in Chinchina, Caldas to be milled and prepared for export.

Northern Valle del Cauca is, along with Huila, Nariño and Cauca Departments, becoming known as Colombia’s “new coffee belt.” Previously, the Eje Cafetero (the Colombian Coffee Growing Axis) was the major coffee-producing region in Colombia. However, today’s coffee enthusiasts are turning southward to the “new coffee belt” for brighter, more intense flavors.

Coffee in Valle del Cauca is cultivated at altitudes between 1,600 and 2,000 meters above sea level. The predominant varieties are Castillo, Colombia and few Caturra hybrids. Coffee is typically cultivated under shade with fruit trees, plantains, bananas and some avocadoes intercropped between coffee trees.

Unlike other departments—where coffee growing areas are divided by ecotopes (microclimates)—in Valle del Cauca, the land is divided by micro-cuencas, which are micro river basins that play a significant role in determining coffee quality and taste.  

Great coffee is built on great relationships. We’ve been working with our in-country partner in Colombia, Cafexport, to find farmers who are producing delicious coffees and connect them with you.Cafexport, our in-country partner, is built on the strength of 20 years of meaningful and productive relationships with Colombian coffee cooperatives.

Most of the coffees we purchase from Cafexport are the product of many years of partnership between Cafexport, cooperatives, and farmers. Many are also certified, traceable coffees whose certification, combined with high quality processing and preparation, are sought after by established roasters across the globe.

The majority of the cooperatives with whom we work through Cafexport are from the regions of Caldas, Huila, Tolima, Antioquia, Quindío, Santander, and Magdalena. We like to keep our list of sourcing regions long because diversification allows us to offer coffee with different specifications, flavors and harvest and shipping times to suit every need.