Eduardo Canacue Yellow Bourbon Anaerobic Natural

La Cabanita is just a quick 6 kilometers from the small hamlet of La Estrella, which is tucked into the hills around Acevedo, Huila. The farm was previously part of a bigger 17-hectare plot that belonged to Eduardo Canacue’s parents. When it passed down to their children, Eduardo and his brothers each began cultivating their own portion, and he named his section La Cabañita (the little cabin). 

Eduardo and his family were interested in reaching specialty markets and brought an initial sample of their coffee to our friends at Cuatro Vientos. The coffee had promise, so the Cuatro Vientos team worked with Eduardo to make the most of its potential through processing. For this 100% Yellow Bourbon lot, they decided on Anaerobic Natural fermentation. 

La Cabañita is located in an ideal environment for growing coffee, surrounded by a biodiverse mountain and cascading waterfalls. With high-quality seeds and steady care from the Canacue family, the result is a sweet, balanced cup.  

In addition to the family’s own labor, Eduardo works with two full-time employees to manage around 15,000 coffee trees growing alongside yucca and plantain, creating an intercropped system that supports soil health and strengthens food security. 

During harvest season Eduardo hires up to 15 local workers to selectively harvest ripe cherry, making a pass every three to four weeks. For this Anaerobic Natural lot, once selected, cherry is placed in sealed plastic bags covered in jute bags to ferment in an anaerobic environment for 72 hours. After fermentation, Eduardo places the cherry on raised beds where it is carefully raked and monitored for up to 20 days to ensure consistent, even drying. 

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. 

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.