Jose Isler Rivera
Finca El Chaparral
ㅡ
State: Cauca
Municipality: Inzá
Sub Municipality: Bajo Belen
Average Altitude: 1900 meters
Farm Size: 0.2 hectares
Common Varieties: Colombia , Tabi , Chiroso
Processing: washed, dried in beds under plastic. Extended fermentation
We are proud to feature this coffee from Inzá. This information about the producer comes from us courtesy of Pergamino Coffee Exporters in Colombia. Updated Last: December , 2024.
Willian Fredy Quinto Pechene is 36 years old and has been dedicated to coffee farming for approximately nine years on his own farm, El Chaparral, located in the Belén vereda. From a young age, Willian understood that life in the countryside requires involvement in coffee farming, as it is the main economic driver of the region. This work has provided him and his family with economic stability, allowing them
access to goods and services that improve their daily quality of life.
On his farm, Willian follows a meticulous processing method to ensure the quality of his coffee. He collects coffee cherries over two days and then pulps them together. The coffee is fermented without water for 36 hours, stirred every 8 hours to ensure uniformity. After fermentation, he
washes the coffee and dries it directly under the sun, carefully preserving its characteristics.
His goal is to implement all the technical recommendations he has received, aiming to improve the quality of his coffee. He hopes these efforts will lead to higher cup scores, better income, and an improved quality of life for himself and his family.
General Information for the Region
On a typical trip to Inzá, we are usually expecting to get a small public transportation van at 10 in the morning at the Neiva bus station center, a city whose average temperature we are unfamiliar with, but it seems to be around 40 degrees Celsius in the shade with 100% humidity! To achieve this, we woke up at 4 a.m. to catch the first flight to Bogotá, and after a couple of completely normal delays at El Dorado, we managed to get the Avianca flight to Neiva on its way. In the small, packed van, we had some achiras
(local snack) with water for breakfast, sat down next to 6 other passengers, prayed for the air conditioning to work reasonably well, and set off at a not very safe speed to La Plata, a large, incredibly chaotic town, on the border between Neiva and Cauca.
There, Nilson, a great friend and young community leader with whom we work in Inzá, awaits us to assist with the last and probably the most beautiful and entertaining leg of our journey to our final destination: the village of San Antonio up high in the mountains that make up the municipality of Inzá.
Leaving La Plata, we feel like we are getting farther away from everything. On a lonely road, we cross the Páez River Canyon, a beautiful but dangerous river that can, during the rainy season, do justice to the group of fierce indigenous people who inspired its name. Looking east, we search in vain for the Huila snow-capped mountain at the end of the mountain range. We know that it can only be seen a few days a year and very early in the morning; seeing it at midday would be a miracle. As always, and even though
we see mountains every day of our lives, the ones in this region continue to impress us. Sharp, steep, and unfortunately, many of them are deforested to raise cattle in their lower parts; more than seeing them, you feel these mountains.
After crossing a long high bridge built years ago in an unsuccessful attempt to build a major road connecting to Popayán, we turn left and start our final ascent. After 40 minutes on an unpaved road,
the reality of the area begins to unfold: a network of small farms sustained by their owners. Gone are the large extensions of Antioquia or the coffee axis; here, the average size is 2-3 hectares per farm. After passing 1500 meters, all we see is small coffee plots, with the occasional dairy cow and scattered chickens among the farms, but predominantly planted with coffee. As with every region in Colombia, Inzá has also its own rural façade design, with specific colors, and patterns. Although many houses are still made of clay and wood structures, almost all of them here are painted with geometric patterns and fluorescent colors.
The urban area of San Antonio consists of a single street where most of the houses and the school are located, which is a fundamental center of the community. The other hub is the Pillimué family and house, which, with its coffee collection warehouse and a small reception room for customers (those coffee farmers who come to sell their coffee), is an absolutely essential community center. María Rosa, the family matriarch, waits for us at the door and greets us with a warm hug and a shy kiss on the cheek. Her petite figure and her smile, reminiscent of a little girl's sweetness, don't deceive us; behind that, there is a woman who, at 55 years old, leads by example with her tenacity, concern for every community member, and endless capacity for work. It was in this area of Inzá, with the Pillimué family, that our project of allied producers gained strength over 10 years ago. Leo, our coffee and quality director, had worked in this region at the beginning of his coffee career and had become a close friend of the community and the Pillimué family. Years later, they mentioned to him that their projects with another exporter had fallen apart and they were looking for an ally to help them connect with specialty roasters. This was the beginning of what is now our strongest allied producers program: we work with over 250 producers in the area, and the Pillimué family helps us coordinate the work and conduct quality analysis in a cupping lab built with Pergamino's support.
Inzá is one of the largest municipalities in the country in terms of land area and is located in the eastern part of the Cauca department along the border with Huila. This region is also known as Tierradentro, home to two indigenous groups recognized for their resilience in battles against Spanish conquerors. Although the Guanacas and Páez still have a presence in the region, it is primarily an agricultural municipality populated by small-scale farmers and not an indigenous reservation. Part of the Gran Macizo Colombiano, the country's main water source, where rivers as significant as the Magdalena, Putumayo, and Cauca originate, this region offers a beautiful view of the Huila snow-capped mountain and enjoys a unique climate and soil for coffee cultivation.
Bio factory Project:
Inzá is also home to a project that excites us greatly and fills us with optimism, our first community biofertilizer plant. Leveraging a tradition of organic agriculture still present in the region, we decided to start a project to support those who are already organic producers or want to be either completely or partially. In total, we work with 80 producers that are fully organic but also with dozens of others that are not certified but can benefit from purchasing from the bio factory. With the support of other international
roasters who buy coffee from this region through us, Pergamino financed the construction of the plant and the purchase of the initial inputs. The sustainability of the project will depend on selling the products at cost to continue functioning. It now produces organic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides that are difficult for individual farmers to produce on a small scale. This way, we use the group's economies of scale to promote organic or mixed production in this region.
