WHY COLOMBIAN COFFEE?
Because it is the land of sustainably harvested coffee
- 500,000 coffee growing families make up the Coffee Industry in Colombia.
- 95% of Colombia’s coffee producers have coffee plantations in an area smaller than 2 hectares (5 acres).
- Colombia, the perfect balance of rain, altitude and quality of the soil.
- Handpicked selected beans.
AND BECAUSE THE COLOMBIAN COFFEE’S PEOPLE
Did you know that the coffee Industry in Colombia is owned by over 500,000 coffee growing families who have plantations in an area smaller than 2 hectares (5 acres)? The reduced dimensions of their coffee plots have allowed maintaining an essentially family oriented activity to the Colombian coffee growing industry. Thus, the people of coffee in Colombia believe their family are their most important priorities, and are very keen on protecting and maintaining a strong set of family values.
Around coffee in Colombia surged a number of social networks with a diversity of cultures and features, including different indigenous, afro descending communities and the heirs of the settlers of white or mestizo origin, all of them with diverse cultural manifestations between the regions. These are people whose music, accents, and even their language vary significantly, with Caribbean or Andean influence, which contributes with this marvellous coffee idiosyncrasy that distinguishes the great family of Colombian coffee growers. Without leaving aside their particular culture, Colombian coffee growers have left their differences aside to be able to work together in obtaining common objectives, and have learned to develop a spirit of collaboration difficult to replicate in other industries or other countries. Thus, the people of coffee in Colombia have developed a community spirit and of collective action which is also part of their most cherished values.
In short, the values of the coffee people in Colombia include their honest work, permanent effort and dedication, culture of quality and an interaction between their family tradition and the modern world; these values are present in the Juan Valdez character as well as in each inhabitant of the Colombian coffee growing areas, and that have played an important role in the dynamism of their regions. The coffee growing families, united by their principles of democratic participation, solidarity, commitment, search for their common good and sustainable development, conform a social and strategic capital, and a model of peace for Colombia. This coffee culture has passed from generation to generation and today youngsters follow this life model, as a guide for the future.