Visiting The Coffee Farms Of Colombia: Our Green Coffee Buyer’s Travel Diary

Follow Sadie, Ringtons’ green coffee buyer and quality manager on her visit to our partners at source over in Colombia. As a specialist Q Grader, Sadie is specially trained to be able to identify and grade the best coffees in the world. Seeing how our coffee is grown first hand shows the sort of  attention to detail Ringtons is known for. 

This article is Sadie’s travel diary from her 2022 trip to Colombia, to experience first hand how climate change is affecting our supply chain, and ultimately, what that means for you – the consumer.

I mapped out my trip, starting with a journey to see Carcafe’s operations in Antioquia. My escort would be Juan Rada, the General Manager of Carcafe and one of his agronomists, Tanya. During my time with Juan and Tanya, we would visit three farms and a mill, and their knowledge would help me to better understand the impact El Nina has had on Colombian coffee production.

Our journey ended up taking a little over four hours – a lot, I am told, compared to usual. The extra journey time was due to several small mudslides on the way to Medellin that we had to navigate. Colombia’s El Nina rains are not only affecting the country’s coffee production, but they are also having a major impact on the infrastructure outside of the main cities. The relentless downpour of El Nina has left jalopies and trucks to transport coffee from producing areas to mills, and then ports, on treacherous roads.

Antioquia is the second largest coffee-producing region in Colombia by volume (out of sixteen provinces) so coffee is by far the main export from this area. Therefore, reliable infrastructure is vital. This area also sees two crops per year – the main crop is from October to February, and the fly crop in April to June. My visit coincided with the end of the fly crop and the early flowering for the main crop, so the trees were quite empty and the farmers were focusing on cultivation for their next successful harvest. 

Juan told me a little about the mindset of the Antioquia coffee farmers.

“They have coffee in their blood,” he explained.

Farmers from other regions may grow coffee simply as a revenue stream, making them susceptible to lower prices as they appear to lack the desire to invest in their farm or give it longer-term prospects. Whereas, coffee farmers in Antioquia are often fourth and fifth-generation, with a more ‘entrepreneurial’ mindset. They are often willing to invest in land regeneration, quality improvements and infrastructure, which in turn means they receive higher prices than some of their counterparts in other regions.

This care and attention to detail is what we look for when selecting partners for Ringtons, and I could not help but make the family connection. 

The first farm I visited was called El Paisaje, and it was large, situated high in the mountains and owned by a fourth-generation coffee farmer. Typical of many larger farms in Antioquia, the owner had a job elsewhere, and the farm manager and his family worked the land. The owner of El Paisaje reached out to Volcafe Way when he inherited the farm to request help with land rejuvenation due to there being many old, low-yielding trees. 

Volcafe Way assisted El Paisaje with implementing a five-year strategy. It began with mapping out systematic tree rejuvenation and planting plantain trees for shade coverage and added income, as they could sell the fruit at the local markets. They also analysed the soil to ensure the correct application of fertilisers. 

Afterwards, Volcafe Way created a business plan to help guide the farm through its five-year journey. They also supported the farm manager by implementing a program of organised pruning, stumping and replanting to maximise yields and set up a nursery, which enabled the farm to maintain control of new saplings. The aim was for El Paisaje to be capable of producing 800,000kgs of parchment by 2025.

El Aguila is a smaller, more typical Colombian smallholder farm operated by the family who lives on the land. This farm is also undergoing regeneration due to having lots of old trees. Tanya and her team advised the farmer to strip the trees to encourage new growth, and within 12 months, the stripped trees began to yield new branches and much more fruit. 

Tanya and her team have also been advising El Aguila on planting patterns. It is traditional in Colombia to use 1 x 1-metre planting grids, similar to that of coffee plantations in Brazil. But the bushy nature of Castillo trees means that this can end up being too close for fully grown trees to flourish. If sunlight does not reach the bottom branches of the trees, they can end up producing fewer cherries. Volcafe Way is encouraging this producer to plant in 1 x 3-metre lines, and despite having fewer trees, yield is the same with this more efficient process. 

The most challenging aspect of the agronomists’ work is proving that their techniques will reap the rewards. All require farmers to accept the loss of crops for one or two seasons before they can reap the benefits of improved growth. So, they operate on a system of working with model farmers, who utilise the new techniques and then demonstrate the improvements to their neighbours. The entrepreneurial nature of farmers in Antioquia means this challenge has been easier than in other areas. These farmers are usually passionate, committed growers who understand that coffee production requires investment to profit.

The last farm we visited was a fine example of how entrepreneurial farmers in this region can be.

Sergio bought the farm three years ago after working in the city for years, as he desired to return to his coffee farming routes. On purchasing the farm, his business plan involved regenerating the old trees on the farm and entering the realm of ‘coffee tourism’. He has diversified the land with an on site mill, roastery, cafe, and boutique hotel. You can try his coffee, roasted on site, in his farm cafe. 

At Finca Antigua, Sergio is also experimenting with various coffee production processes, including honey processes and sun dried naturals – which he does on the roof of a building. 

Despite being the smallest of the farms we visited, Finca Antigua is giant in its additional value.

Amaga is the largest and newest of Carcafe’s mills, with a warehouse of 6000 square metres and the ability to process 1200 x 70kg bags of coffee daily. Processing includes milling the coffee from parchment to removing the papery layer, sorting by colour, size and defect count, and finally bagging for export.

Even though I was travelling with the general manager for Carcafe, security was tight at Amaga Mill. I was required to show my passport, have a photograph taken, and our car be checked both upon entry and exit by armed guards. When I asked Juan what they were looking for, he replied, “people”. It was the first time I remembered the potential dangers of this region.

When the coffee arrives at the mill, traceability from its buying station is maintained until the lots are approved. Then, they merge together to form the Antioquia Excelso or Supremo level that we are familiar with. 

The bags of coffee are then loaded onto a container, hitched to a wagon, and sent to a port. From Amaga Mill, this could either be Buenaventura Port to the West of the country or Cartagena in the North – either journey involves travelling for several days. 

After our tour of Amaga Mill, we cupped some farmer’s lots representing the qualities of coffees grown throughout the region – one from each buying station. Also on the table was a lot from the last harvest, and it was surprising how old that sample tasted due to being kept in the hot, humid quality control room for just over six months. It was a reminder of how humidity and excessive heat negatively affect coffee and, for us, a reminder to book coffee deliveries out of Colombia promptly so that milled coffee doesn’t sit around in hot warehouses.