La Granada

Don Gabriel Castaño owes a great deal to the variety of coffee he grows, pink bourbon. Although he initially started growing coffee to improve his family's income, exchanging his work for a 5-hectare farm, La Granada, the first few years were not easy.

Until Don Gabriel discovered pink bourbon and its resistance to coffee rust, as well as the fact that it makes excellent coffee. From then on, he produced this variety exclusively, to the point of influencing all the neighboring producers, who renamed it “Castaño”!

To produce this micro-lot, the pink bourbon cherries are hand-picked. They were kept intact for 96 hours, before being fermented for another 96 hours. The cherries were then washed and left to dry in parabolic dryers for 20 to 30 days.

Don Gabriel Castaño owes a great deal to the variety of coffee he grows, pink bourbon. Although he initially started growing coffee to improve his family's income, exchanging his work for a 5-hectare farm, La Granada, the first few years were not easy.

Until Don Gabriel discovered pink bourbon and its resistance to coffee rust, as well as the fact that it makes excellent coffee. From then on, he produced this variety exclusively, to the point of influencing all the neighboring producers, who renamed it “Castaño”!

To produce this micro-lot, the pink bourbon cherries are hand-picked. They were kept intact for 96 hours, before being fermented for another 96 hours. The cherries were then washed and left to dry in parabolic dryers for 20 to 30 days. 

In 1990, Colombia opened its doors to the international economy. Colombian producers have suffered a severe blow as they have to compete with a wide variety of imported products on the market. Despite significant leverage within the agro-industry and the National Federation of Coffee Growers, coffee producers have suffered too and this has not been resolved with the instability of the purchase prices of coffee negotiated daily at the New York stock exchange.

Don Gabriel Castaño experienced this situation and like many other Colombians, he turned to coca production to survive and not go bankrupt. Even though coca promises high returns, the financial and personal risks are often much higher. As soon as he could, Gabriel left the coca fields and rose in the cafe. And with one variety in particular, pink bourbon.

Gabriel and his wife Carmen have six children - four daughters and two sons - five of whom followed in their parents' footsteps by becoming coffee producers. Sorany, Marili, Yorlady, Gabriel and Jefferson live near the family farm.