ANCESTRAL COFFEE

Harold Andrade

El Horizonte Farm

Harold Andrade, fourth generation coffee grower, has grown up immersed in the world of coffee cultivation and production. He lives in constant learning and understands that coffee is an endless universe. In addition to his love for production, Harold has a deep respect for the conservation of natural resources, which is reflected in the management of the EL HORIZONTE farm. This place is being transformed into a “coffee agroecosystem” and stands out as a valuable natural reserve recognized by civil society.

At EL HORIZONTE, all solid and liquid byproducts resulting from coffee production, such as husks from the pulping process, are used in vermiculture to generate organic nutrients. These nutrients enrich the soils of the coffee plantations, thus ensuring sustainable production that can be enjoyed both in the present and in the future.

On the farm, trees such as cedars, guamas, guayacanes and walnuts have been planted to create a plant cover that offers a pleasant habitat for birds and other animals, while guaranteeing sustainable coffee production. This coverage not only protects soils, but also ensures the storage and preservation of water sources. In each cultivated hectare of the EL HORIZONTE farm, 70 trees are planted that provide shade for the coffee plantations. In addition, they have expanded the plantation to areas of protective forests, reaffirming their commitment to sustainability.

Processing method detail:

The collected coffee is set to float to discard beans with a lower density, and to rid the coffee fruit of impurities. After that, the optimally ripe beans are selected, here is where the fermentation process begins. The unpeeled cherries are introduced into bins, fermented for a period of 15 days under shade to maintain constant and fresh fermentation conditions. The cherries are then removed from the bins to be peeled and are again introduced into the fermentation bin for a period of 10 days, totalling 600 hours in this fermentation process. Finally, these coffee beans are gently washed and dried in a parabolic dryer for a period of 15 days, resulting in Ancestral Coffee.