COLOMBIA benedicto

Benedicto Puentes is a farmer from the Tolima region who, in addition to producing his own coffee, is directly involved in the development of the surrounding farms and helps farmers open the door to the world of choice coffee. It all started with the fact that he could no longer watch how the neighboring farmers have bad bargaining options just because of a lack of information.

Today, together with his wife Helena, they selflessly advise other farmers about the processes, help with negotiating a good price, and also buy ripe unprocessed cherries from nearby farmers to show that the quality (and also the price) can be increased by subsequent processing. Benedicto is proof that if the bearer of change is someone local, whom the farmers respect, the results will come very quickly.

Palma Roja Farm was founded by the Puentes Gonzáles family in 1995 in the China Alta region of Tolima, Colombia. The farm is managed today by Benedicto Junior, son of the founders, with his wife. The coffee trees on the Palma Roja farm are around 7 years old and grow at an altitude of 1,760 m above sea level, mostly without shading. In this area there is very high cloud cover during the year, additional shade would be harmful, it would not allow the plants to develop.

Benedicto mainly processes its coffees using the washed method. However, every year he works on new fermentations and looks for the ideal way to add juiciness to his coffees. He consistently controls the processes, their length and the temperatures at which fermentation takes place. To achieve the best stability of the grain, he uses slow, long drying, where he keeps the temperature around 36 degrees.