Notes: Pear, Lemonade, Table Grapes
Origin: Alto Las Chinas, San Augustin, Huila Colombia
Producer: Diever Galindez
Farm: Las Juntas
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1800 MASL
Variety: Pink Bourbon

Cherries are collected for three days in a row, every 21 days. The coffee from the first
and second day are left to ferment for one and two days respectively before all of the
coffee is depulped together on the third day with the coffee that is picked that day.
Once all of the coffee is depulped it is left to dry ferment for 20 hours in ceramic tiled
tanks. The coffee is then washed and then left to drain for a few hours before being
moved into a solar dryer for 15-20 days.

About Diever
Born in Las Delicias, a village 2,100 meters above sea level near the Colombian massive, Diever was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents without a father in his childhood. He only studied up to fifth grade because in his words, he liked to fight. As a child he replaced his studies with various jobs around the house such as getting grass for the guinea pigs, putting the calves away and preparing the week's firewood to heat the oven on Mondays.

In 1991 when he was 15 years old, his grandfather brought him to the village of El Tabor
to train in a course related to coffee for 6 months. Diever was scolded for not paying attention in the classes and because of this he felt offended and made the decision to return to Las Delicias by foot, walking for 6-hours to get back home. Once back in Las Delicias he began to work with bean and tomato crops under a 3x2 exchange modality in which he worked 3 days on neighboring farms and then 2 days on his own plots. After two years of this though, he felt this way of working wasn’t equitable for him and made the decision to move to the village of El Rosario to grow potatoes and tomatoes with his uncle. With the earnings of the first harvest equivalent to $30,000, they went on a trip to the Las Lajas Sanctuary in the department of Nariño.

Then in 2000, his father Pablo Absalón Guzmán called on him on a Monday to meet him in Vereda Las Chinas that day. After years of not connecting with him, he was surprised to find out when he arrived to meet him that he wanted to pass on half an hectare of uncultivated land to Diever. Diever was not impressed by this and told his father to sell it and give him the money so that he could continue growing beans and tomatoes in Las Delicias. His father refused, saying that this land was for him to work, so together they set our clearing the land and preparing seedlings and planted 2,250 Caturra trees. This was the beginning of what would eventually become Finca Las Juntas. While preparing the land and tending to the seedlings Diever continued working on other farms tending to goats and invested everything he earned in his little plot. In 2001 he made the decision to go with a neighbor to work in Putumayo, Nariño for a year and a half, leaving his lot in the care of the family. After some not very good experiences made him return to San Agustín, he continued again farming beans and tomatoes and taking care of his little coffee lot. In the middle of 2002 he met his future wife Estela Guzmán and that year they formalized their relationship and began to work hard together. Their main idea was to be able to expand the coffee farm and during the following 4 years they managed to buy a few very small plots of land from their neighbors, thanks to some savings and a loan that they had from the Agrarian Bank. Their dream was realized and the small lots acquired have now formed the Las Juntas farm that we know today. Now, his father Pablo lives with him on this farm, and they have resuscitated their relationship after many years apart.

As is common in the beginning, their production of both wet and dry coffee was sold locally in the town square to whoever was there to buy it. Finally, in 2010 after selling for many years in the local market for absurdly low prices they were able to join the Los Naranjos group and access a slightly differentiated market for their coffees. Even still, the most they achieved was to send their coffee into a large blend, without any traceability or assurances of support. As of four years ago, that market too dried up, and he was left to sell to whatever local buying point he could.

A note from the importer, Semilla:

This lot represents Diever’s first microlot sale with Monkaaba and his first ever international sale with his name on it, which is incredible considering the sheer quality of this coffee. Since we first tried Diever’s coffee, we’ve been blown away by it and recent samples have maintained that level of quality. Sadly, the original Caturra plants that started Las Juntas succumbed to coffee leaf rust, and they made the decision to replant with 700 Pink Bourbon trees to start, and have propagated all their subsequent Pink Bourbon from these original trees. They now have 7,400 Pink Bourbon plants in production, as well as some 640 Gesha trees and and small amount of Castillo and San Bernardo that we now purchase as part of our decaf project. We’re thrilled to see Diever and Estela finally receive the recognition they deserve after so many years working in farms, and over twenty years growing coffee.

Pricing Transparency:

Farmgate price: 3,050,000 Colombian Pesos per carga
National farmgate price December 2022: 1,950,000 Colombian Pesos per carga
FOB price: $3.78USD/lb

We paid Semilla: $5.60 USD/lb