Gerardo Meneses Zambrano FW

Finca San Isidro sits at 1,650 meters above sea level near the town of La Unión in Colombia’s coffee-famous Nariño Department. Owner Gerardo Meneses Zambrano is a founding member of Cooperativa COOMERCIACAFE, which supports him in improving the quality of his harvest and in reaching new, quality-driven markets for his coffee.

Don Gerardo is now in his 80s, but he has worked in coffee from the age of 5. He combined schoolwork with work on the farm when he was young, but his true passion was always agriculture. At the age of 13, he devoted himself entirely to coffee production, and he hasn’t looked back.

He and his wife have been married for over 60 years, and she has helped him build his farm and home. Their 9 children have moved into a wide range of professions, and they were all educated, he notes, thanks to his income from coffee.

Today Don Gerardo is renowned throughout the region for his knowledge and innovation. He helped to found Coop Coomerciacafe, which focuses on promoting specialty coffee in Nariño. He even recently won a ‘Hero of Coffee’ award for his contributions to the Nariño coffee sector.

“I have the honor of being the first in La Unión to start growing varieties of coffee that are now common: Bourbon and Caturra – varieties that although they were susceptible to rust eventually won us the battle [for recognition],” he says. By helping to promote specialty coffee in Narino, he hopes to establish this culture of innovation for many years to come.

Gerardo selectively handpicks cherry before pulping it using a traditional drum pulper. Coffee is then fermented in water for 18 to 20 hours, depending on ambient temperature and humidity. After being washed in clean water, wet parchment is laid to dry in thin layers in parabolic dryers for approximately 8 days.

Cooperativa COOMERCIACAFE was established in 2003 to help smallholder farmers across Nariño. The cooperative invests in regional development and increasing incomes for farmers.

Coop COOMERCIACAFE operates with two main objectives. First, it promotes the production and sale of quality parchment coffee. Second, it focuses on value-addition through roasting and grinding coffee. In all its activities, traceability is paramount and is present throughout the cooperative’s work from the field to final product.

The Nariño department sits in the far south of Colombia. It borders Ecuador and the high Andean peaks. Its closeness to the equator enables coffee cultivation at very high altitudes. Many farms are located at heights surpassing 2,000 meters above sea level. 

While coffee growing is not traditionally seen at such high altitudes, it is possible in Nariño thanks to plenty of sunlight, dependable and frequent rainfall, and rich soils. Furthermore, the landscape helps ensure nights do not get too cold for growing cherry. The heat that accumulates in the bottom of canyons rises into the mountains at night, protecting cherry from the extreme nighttime cold that comes with such a high altitude.

There are no less than three volcanoes in the Cordillera Occidental, a branch of the Andes mountains in Colombia. These volcanoes reach altitudes as high as 4,700 meters above sea level. While volcanic activity can sometimes present hazards to life and coffee farming, the rich volcanic soil full of nutrients provides an excellent growing medium for coffee plants. The nutrients, combined with lower temperatures helps to slowly form coffee fruits and concentrate their sugars. The result is complex, sweet and acidic coffees.