The municipality of Santa Maria, is located on the western side the department of Huila, nestled between mountains. After travelling through a road next to the river and passing some cliffs, you’ll find Santa Maria in between mountains and with Bache River passing on the side. The name of the brand, Altos de Maria, comes from this mountain tops of the side and on the logo, you’ll see the tower of the church with the cross which is the highest building in town. This region suffered immensely back in the day because of the internal conflict of Colombia, but coffee has been a means of pushing forwards the economy and the people. It is a place with a rich biodiversity and water sources, with ideal soils for coffee production. The farmers here come from traditional farming practices but which here, have proven to work very well, seeing some good quality coffees.

Contributing Producers

The contributing producers of Altos de Maria are hardworking and passionate producers who come from traditional coffee producing practices. They work with traditional varieties such as Caturra, Colombia, Castillo and maybe some Typica on farms that range from 3 to 5 hectares. During recent years, they have started to use less pesticides and herbicides having more environmentally practices. Also, in recent years because they have changed their approach towards specialty coffee, most of them have started to invest in soil analysis to understand better the terrain they’re at. With this, they have had more efficient fertilization plans with products that are more efficient and effective, with less negative impact on the soil and environmentally friendly.

These producers carry their passion throughout all the coffee process and always involving the family members. Here, coffee production is a family venture and as such having more years to come of amazing coffee from Santa Maria.

The contributing producers of Altos de Maria start their coffee process by picking the cherries on their ideal point of ripeness. Afterwards, the cherries sometimes are floated first at the receiving container in the wet mill to take out the less dense cherries and any foreign material such as leaves or branches. Afterwards, some few contributing producers have started to do an in-cherry fermentation for 12 up to 24 hours in the reception container at the wet mill. Most of the coffee producers normally pulp the coffee the same day with some water but more recently some are doing it without water. Then, the coffee is left to ferment in open air tanks, either tiled covered or cement, for 36 hours either without water or just a small amount. Some producers have started to ferment the coffee in airtight containers. Afterwards, the coffee is washed 2 to 3 times, before being taken to the drying beds or parabolic covered patios where it’s going to stay for up to 20 days.

After the coffee is ready, in some cases it is stored in the farm for a couple of days, before being delivered to the purchasing station of Caravela in Santa Maria. There, the coffee will first undergo a physical analysis by the Quality Analyst who will check for defects, humidity, and water activity levels, among others. Then, the sample will be roasted, and a sensory analysis will be made to determine the quality grade of the coffee. At the end, all the coffee purchased, is sent to the Caravela’s mill in Armenia, milled and from there, sent to the port to be shipped to its destination.