Finca Santa Maria is one of nine farms within Hacienda Cafetera La Pradera in Aratoca, Santander, Colombia. Santa Maria is run by 22 women, all heads of household, and follows La Pradera’s mission of strengthening the Santander coffee cluster, contributing positively to the community, and producing coffee in harmony with the natural world.
Finca Santa Maria is certified with the Con Manos de Mujer seal, verifying that it was produced by the hard work of women coffee producers. They share the labor of planting, tending, pruning, harvesting, and processing the coffee. La Pradera also involves both locals and visitors in the operations of the farm, inviting everyone to visit and see the hard work that the women of Finca Santa Maria have undertaken.
This lot of Castillo coffee underwent Honey processing. Ripe cherries are harvested, cleaned, and sorted before being fermented whole for 22 hours. Cherries are then pulped and the pulped cherries are fermented anaerobically for 50 hours with controlled temperature. The fermented, pulped coffee is then dehydrated for 15 hours before being mechanically dried to a humidity of 11%.
