Colombia
Nariño
Arturo Guzman
Finca El Sauce
Caturra, Colombia
Washed
June
Chocolate, Grape, Cooked Fruit, Floral
1880 meters
N/A
70 kg w/ GrainPro
SOLD OUT
Finca El Sauce has been passed from generation to generation. The first generation who started cultivating coffee was Arturo’s grandfather, Don Efrain Chavez, and from there onward it was passed to the second and third generation managing the farm today, where Don Arturo Guzman has been cultivating coffee for 18 years. The farm is in excellent condition, with proper wet mill infrastructure for processing coffee, including a freshwater stream that provides clean water for washing coffee.
The farm has further optimal coffee growing conditions: high elevation, temperate climate, and close by to the dry mill and other resources in the town of Buesaco. Finca El Sauce plants orange, lime, lemon, and bananas as shade between the coffee trees, but coffee is the only cash crop cultivated for export.
Don Arturo fertilizes his coffee plots in October and April and trains his coffee collectors to only harvest ripe cherries. Coffee ferments for 14 hours prior to being fully washed. Don Arturo makes sure to let coffee dry slowly in the shade, an experiment in improved specialty processing that has proven very successful.
Nariño is one of Colombia’s 32 Departments. It shares a southern border with Ecuador and is home to thousands of smallholder coffee producing families. Colombia’s three ranges of Andean mountains converge in Nariño, presenting ideal altitudes and fertile soil for high grown Arabica production.
Nariño’s particular geography and proximity to coastal and land borders have historically transformed it into a corridor for illicit trade routes, resulting in unwarranted violence against residents of remote mountain farms. Today, thanks to the particularly resilient and fearless spirit of Nariño’s farmers, the small region is a respected nucleus of coffee innovation.
