Carlos Ernesto Ospina El Triunfo FW

Finca El Triunfo has been passed down through Carlos Ernesto Álvarez Ospina’s family for generations. Named for the Spanish word for "triumph", Carlos took his job as the next generation of Ospina coffee growers seriously and, at a young age, began learning as much about coffee growing as he could. As a teenager, his uncles gave him a small plot with some coffee trees so he could start his own farm.

By the time he graduated high school, his healthy crop was producing coffee regularly and he was selling his roasted coffee to family and friends. The proceeds from his business helped pay some of his college fees. From college, he went on to law school and started his own practice.

Carlos 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.

Trained pickers with Manos al Grano selectively handpick ripe, red cherry and deliver it to Carlos’ on-farm wet mill. Cherry is left to ferment lightly for 12 hours and is then pulped and placed in tanks to ferment for 18 hours. Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and laid on patios to dry. Parchment dries on patios for 2 days before being finished at low temperature in a mechanical dryer for 40 hours.