Strawberry & Apricot
Harvest: Oct - Dec 2024

Country: Colombia
Producer: Diever Galindez
Region: San Augustín, Huila
Process: Washed
Variety: Pink Bourbon
Altitude: 1,800 masl

Diever was born and raised in Las Delicias, a village nestled 2,100 meters above sea level near the Colombian Massif. He grew up without a father, raised instead by his mother and maternal grandparents. His formal education ended in the fifth grade—he admits he preferred fighting to studying. From a young age, he took on various household chores, such as gathering grass for the guinea pigs, herding calves, and preparing firewood to heat the oven each Monday.

At 15, in 1991, Diever began working in bean and tomato crops under a 3x2 work system: three days on neighboring farms in exchange for two days on his own plots. After two years, he found the arrangement unfair and decided to move to the village of El Rosario, where he started growing potatoes and tomatoes alongside his uncle.

Unfortunately, his uncle passed away in 1996, prompting Diever to return to Las Delicias. He stayed there for four more years until, in 2000, he inherited half a hectare of uncultivated land. This marked the humble beginnings of what would later become Finca Las Juntas. While preparing the land and nurturing the first seedlings, Diever continued to work on nearby farms tending goats, investing every cent he earned into his own plot.

In 2002, Diever met Estela Guzmán. That same year, they formalized their relationship and began working together toward a shared goal: expanding the coffee farm. Over the next four years, through a combination of savings and a loan from the Agrarian Bank, they managed to purchase small neighboring plots. Slowly but surely, these acquisitions came together to form what is now known as Las Juntas Farm.

In the early days, they sold their coffee—both wet and dry—at the local town square, often for extremely low prices. But in 2010, after years of underpriced sales, they joined the Los Naranjos group, gaining access to a more specialized market within the conventional specialty coffee sector.

As challenges like coffee leaf rust began to impact their Caturra plants and with a desire to improve cup quality, Diever and Estela looked for a hardier, more productive variety. Their first step was purchasing 700 Pink Bourbon trees from the San Adolfo region of Huila. These trees have since become the foundation for propagating new seedlings, now planted throughout the farm.

Price we paid: €14.50/ kg
FOB: USD $10.91/ kg
Farmgate price: COP $4,068,000 per carga
Weight purchased: 350 kg
Relationship: 1 year
Importer: Semilla Coffee
Cup Score: 87.5