Jose Reinel El Cerrito FW

José Reinel Puertas Grajales lives and works in Villa Maria, a township in Iquira in Huila. His farm, Finca El Cerrito, is located at 1,700 to 1,900 meters above sea level and is planted with mainly Castillo variety trees. The high altitudes at José’s farm provide the ideal conditions for cultivating high-quality coffees.

Jose is a part of Manos al Grano, a non-profit organization founded in 2021 to support coffee pickers. Manos al Grano provides training for coffee pickers and legalizes their work by paying them legally through a bank. Laborers also receive benefits like health insurance and a pension.

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 the safe drinking and agricultural water for the Colombian population. 

Trained pickers selectively handpick ripe, red cherry and José processes it on his farm. Once collected, cherry is washed and left to lightly ferment for 12 hours before being pulped. Once pulped, coffee is fermented for 12 hours and then washed in water. Wet parchment is laid on cement patios to sun dry. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying.

Azahar Colombia works directly with producers to source excellent, traceable coffee from Colombia’s best producing regions. They pride themselves on transparent relationships that improve incomes and quality.

In addition to their exporting arm, Azahar also operates a roastery in Quindío and several cafés in Bogotá that serve superb locally-produced coffees to Colombian consumers.