José Hernán Quintero has been involved with coffee for as long as he can remember. His parents
were coffee producers and having his own land to produce coffee and continue his parent’s legacy
had always been a dream. However, the reality of the socio-political situation in Colombia put to test
this dream. The people of Rioblanco, where José is from, were forced to flee due to war and seek
refuge in the surrounding mountains. Understandably this proved to be a massive challenge for Jose
Hernán’s passion for coffee but luckily it prevailed just long enough to see the end of this violence.
In the year 2006, Jose Hernán received an invitation from the coffee growers committee to
participate in the Cup of Excellence that was taking place in Bucaramanga. He decided to participate
in the prestigious contest, achieving the 17th place. In 2009 he decided to participate again, and he
reached 6th place. This motivated him to pay closer attention to his coffee and to focus solely on
producing specialty coffee. Over the years, Jose Hernán has started to focus more on producing
honey processed coffee. He also plans to plant a wider range of traditional varieties.
Jose Hernán works at Finca la Pradera together with his wife Nubia Marín and their son. Nubia is in
charge accounting and keeping a record of traceability for every single lot and their son is in charge
of receiving the coffee after picking and carrying out the post-harvest processes. He is in charge of
training and giving instructions to the workers and pickers. For Jose Hernán, what makes his farm
special is how the family works together as a team.