Finca Santa Maria is one of nine farms within Hacienda Cafetera La Pradera, a family-owned estate in Aratoca, Santander. La Pradera has built its reputation on producing coffee with a strong commitment to environmental stewardship, innovation, and community impact. Within this larger vision, Finca Santa Maria stands out as a project entirely run by women, bringing together 22 producers who are all heads of household. These women share every responsibility on the farm, from planting and tending the trees to pruning, harvesting, and processing the coffee. Their collective leadership is not only a source of livelihood but also a symbol of resilience and empowerment in the Santander coffee region. Through their work, they contribute directly to La Pradera’s mission of strengthening the local coffee cluster while promoting social equity and opportunities for women in coffee production.
Finca Santa Maria holds the Con Manos de Mujer certification, a seal that verifies the coffee’s origin as the product of women’s dedication and labor. This recognition has positioned the farm as an example of how gender equity can drive quality and sustainability in coffee. Beyond production, the women of Santa Maria also welcome both locals and visitors to the farm, creating a space for exchange, learning, and visibility for women’s work in the coffee sector. Their story reflects a deep commitment to community, nature, and the future of Colombian coffee,
showing how collaboration and determination can transform challenges into meaningful
opportunities.
PROCESS DESCRIPTION
For this washed Castillo lot, ripe cherries are handpicked and sorted to remove underripe or defective fruit. The cherries are then depulped the same day of harvest and placed in open fermentation tanks, where they remain for 12 to 24 hours to allow the natural yeasts and bacteria to break down the mucilage. After fermentation, the coffee is thoroughly washed with clean water to remove any remaining mucilage. The parchment is then dried, typically on patios or raised beds, until reaching a stable humidity of 10–11%, ready for storage and export.
REGION
Santander is unique among Colombia’s coffee growing regions, with a varied topography of mountains, rivers, canyons, and valleys. Located to the east of Antioquia and the north of Boyaca, Cundinamarca, and Bogota in Central Colombia, the department of Santander was established in 1857 and today contains a variety of agricultural industries.
Santander’s Andes mountains are where some of the first coffee farms in Colombia were established, and the Department’s agricultural history is intertwined with the history
of coffee. Fresh water sources and rich soil continue to make the region suited for coffee farming today, with shade trees and forests incorporated on most farms.
