Wilmer Cubillos Castillo Anaerobic Natural 

Finca El Rosal sits in El Rosario, Acevedo, Huila, at 1,650 meters above sea level across 10.5 hectares, an altitude that creates the warm days and cool nights that build dense, sweet cherry. Wilmer Cubillos purchased the farm in 2006 and lives there with his wife and youngest son, while his two older children have built their own lives and careers outside the farm. A first-generation coffee farmer, Wilmer's enthusiasm for the craft of cultivating and processing coffee is visible in every aspect of his operation. His goal is straightforward: to produce coffees with differentiated flavors that people can appreciate – and, of course, to earn a price that sustains that quality long-term. 

Wimer cultivates Castillo at Finca El Rosal across 10.5 hectares alongside food crops, including yuca and plantain. The farm has 60,000 coffee trees and employs 20 people in total – 5 permanent and 15 seasonal. Cherry is rigorously handpicked at peak ripeness through a careful manual selection process that Wilmer maintains as a foundation of his quality approach. 

Cherry is selectively handpicked at peak ripeness. Then cherry is placed in sealed tanks for 100 hours.  

Once fermentation is complete, parchment is laid to dry on marquesinas – parabolic dryers on the roof of his house that are typical throughout the area.   

Drying takes between 8 and 15 days. 

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.