William Ortiz
“I represent the third generation of coffee growers after my grandparents and parents. From as far back as I can remember, I have always been surrounded by coffee, understanding the whole process of growing coffee, from selecting the beans, germinating them, planting them on the plantation to growing them to their full potential, but little understanding of the business itself. That was always handled by adults, in my case my father. Although I grew up around coffee from a young age, like most of my peers, I wanted to leave the countryside for the city. In our country, we have limited opportunities for development in the countryside, and this is doubly true for coffee growing, because we live in dependence on very volatile prices. It is often the farmer who takes away that uncertainty, which is why I wanted nothing to do with coffee growing as a child, because I felt that the results of my efforts were never seen. When I was about 15 years old, I took my first courses on coffee production and became interested in growing choice coffee.
I am still taking courses and training. Improving the quality of the coffee flavor profile has always been a priority for me, so I started looking into different fermentation processes. But I have to say that it’s not easy to change the way our parents think, although I understand that, given that they have only ever been in touch with traditional approaches. That means planting coffee, growing it and selling it at the price that is on offer. I see it as a mistake that we are not looking for the added value that coffee can offer, and that has become very interesting to me. Little by little, with a lot of effort and determination, we are seeing the first results. I am already taking care of my own coffee trees, I can afford a piece of land and have a few trees for myself and my brother. This gives me enough freedom to start experimenting with new fermentation processes, which have started to give us better flavor results. Today, in particular, I continue the process of standardizing these fermentations.”
COUNTRY
Colombia
REGION
Bruselas, Huila
FARM
Finca La Cabaña
ALTITUDE
1600 – 1700 m
SIZE OF THE FARM
8 Ha
COFFEE VARIETIES
Caturra, Pink Bourbon, Colombia, Castillo, Geisha
ABOUT THE FARM
The Huila region is now one of the most famous among coffee lovers and it was here that our plans to establish Chicas Industry first began to take shape. We first visited the region in March 2019 and fell in love with the place. Especially the area around Bruselas, a small town near the tourist and coffee-famous city of San Agustin. San Agustin is, among other things, one of the largest coffee producers in the entire region. Moreover, much of the coffee surprises with its quality and the farmers with their knowledge and technological equipment. Various associations and associations have been set up among the farmers and it is no problem to taste the coffee directly from the farmer.
“At the moment, Mr. Ortiz and his wife and their two oldest sons are farming.”
“The farm has been in the family for the second generation, the family moved to the area and started to make coffee sometime in 1965. Since 2009 they have owned this particular farm, which is also their home. At the moment, Mr. Ortiz and his wife and their two eldest sons are farming. As William himself describes, “with a lot of effort and working together, we achieved our secondary technical education in coffee while always helping with the work related to the farm.”
ABOUT THE PROCESSES
William is a big-hearted experimenter. He is very committed to lactic and carbonic fermentations. He gets inspired on social media and in training sessions. And why is he doing all this? Because he enjoys it, but also to bring out the best in the coffees grown on the family farm. What he enjoys most is fermenting with added microorganisms, called lactobacilli. But he also works with washed processes. You won’t get bored with his coffee!
Geisha - washed
The first harvest of this variety at La Cabaña Farm, which we were looking forward to, is beautifully clean and pleasant. Lot Geisha grows on the farm at an altitude of 1620 meters. The cherries were allowed to ripen to the optimum point of ripeness and then hand-picked. This was followed by washing and fermentation in the cherry for 12 to 15 hours. The cherries then went into a wet mill and were de-skinned. The subsequent fermentation took place in closed containers without air for 48 to 60 hours. The coffee was then washed and dried in a traditional kiln for 15 to 20 days.
