I (CJ, co-founder of Futura) had my first opportunity to travel to Colombia 11 years ago in 2014. At this time, La Palma y El Tucan was just beginning to stretch its wings and create partnerships with small producers who were local to the farm and mill. Their now well-established Neighbors and Crops program was just beginning to take shape and I was lucky enough to really get to see the first fruits of all the hard work Felipe, Elisa (also co-founders of Futura) and the La Palma crew had put in to make this project come to life. After walking the farm and touring their incredible wet mill, we had arranged to meet one of the producers, Faustino Reyes from the Neighbors and Crops program on his farm, La Floresta. It is extremely exciting to me on a personal level to circle back all of these years and see Faustino’s name on a bag of Futura Coffee. This coffee not only represents quality in the cup, but exemplifies the grit and dedication it takes to produce coffee in an ever changing climate and marketplace. Faustino, like most people in this area of Colombia, has been surrounded by coffee production for his entire life. Coffee farms still dot the countryside in this area but sadly, the number of farms has seen a steady decline as climate change and low prices have forced families to rethink their generational ties to coffee growing. Faustino and his wife saw an opportunity to dedicate their lives to building their own farm despite the challenges they faced. The family has worked extremely hard to build what they have and they are so proud of each tree they have nurtured. La Floresta is an adopter of La Palma and Biodiversal’s regenerative agriculture initiatives in the area. Faustino is a dedicated composter, using as much organic material as possible to develop nutrient rich compost to limit the use of any chemical fertilizers and pesticides. He has seen the value that regenerative agriculture has played in his farm’s resiliency and along with the team at La Palma, the quality of his coffee in the cup has only improved over the years. This coffee is processed via Lactic Fermentation, an anaerobic style processing method that La Palma y El Tucan pioneered. In this process, Lactic Acid micro-organisms (lactobacillus specifically) are encouraged to grow in an oxygen free environment where they can begin eating the mucilage that remains on the de-pulped coffee seeds. This may seem strange, but chefs and food production has been using lactic fermented products for centuries for items like: pickles, sourdough bread, yogurt and kimchi. The result is often an intensely sweet coffee with a very creamy texture. You will notice a lot of fruit notes coupled with that silky mouthfeel you would get when eating raspberries and cream. Truly a decadent experience. I hope you enjoy this coffee and are able to feel the deep connection that I feel to it as well. I am humbled at what we have been able to accomplish at Futura Coffee Roasters and to see the very seeds of this company poetically sewn in the soils of La Floresta and La Palma y El Tucan.