Carlos Plaza Bella Vista Castillo FW

Even with over 40 years of coffee-producing experience, Carlos Plaza still seeks out new knowledge and techniques to improve his coffee quality. In 2018, he had a quality lab evaluate his coffee and, since then, has been focusing on quality improvements to increase the cup quality of his specialty coffee.

Carlos is a third-generation coffee producer and plans to pass his knowledge on to his own children. His goal is to have a stable income and sustainable business model that will enable his family to continue cultivating coffee for years to come.

The biggest changes Carlos has made have been in improving infrastructure for processing. He’s also been investing in training for coffee pickers to ensure that only ripe, red cherry is collected. Once harvested, cherry is pulped and fermented. Coffee is washed in clean water and parchment is dried in a vertical mechanical dryer for 24 hours and then laid on patios to finish drying.

Castillo is a variety released by Colombia’s National Center for Coffee Investigation (CENCICAFE) in 2005. It is marked by high yield and resistance to Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR). Its dwarf size means it can be planted close together for higher per-hectare yields. Research has indicated that Castillo has a strong quality potential, contrary to popular quality assumptions about Castillo. 

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.