Farm: Finca Santa Ana
For more than 20 years, Carlos Cortes and Paulina Santa Cruz have called the village of La Cocha in Yacuanquer home. There, they built their life around Finca Santa Ana, a place rooted in family, tradition, and coffee. In 2017, they passed on a piece of that legacy to their son, Carlos Esteban, transferring 0.6 hectares of land so he could begin his own journey as a coffee producer.
From the start, Carlos Esteban chose to think differently. At a time when many farmers were renewing their farms with Castillo, he looked back instead of forward, returning to the traditional coffee varieties that once defined Nariño in the 1990s, before coffee rust reshaped the region. He planted yellow and red Caturra, embracing the flavors and farming practices he believed in.
Today, Carlos Esteban lives at Finca Santa Ana with his wife, Luisa Fernanda, and their two children, Juan Esteban, 10, and María Paula, 8. Together, they continue to push the boundaries of what their coffee can be. On the farm, innovation meets tradition as they experiment with longer fermentations and lower-oxygen environments, refining their process to bring greater depth and character to every cup grown on their land.
The altitude conditions of Finca Santa Ana are characteristic of an extreme high-altitude coffee, as it is located above 2,100 meters above sea level, along with low relative humidity conditions that do not exceed 60%.