In the south of Colombia, in the department of Nariño, we arrive to the municipality of Buesaco. It is a place where specialty coffee has found a sweet spot, with many coffee farmers in the last decade switching to quality and producing amazing coffees. It is here, surrounded by mountains, that we meet Paulo Alirio Rivera, who takes us to his farm Ortega.

He has been surrounded with coffee all his life, as his father is a coffee producer and he started learning through him. Later on in life, he graduated from Agroindustry and started working in a coffee company. With all the learning he had amassed from the coffee world, he decided to start with his own coffee production.

So, 10 years ago Paulo Alirio started his own coffee production, making the switch to specialty coffee 4 years ago. This change, made him look differently the production of coffee as he started making changes in cherry picking, processing, and drying. It also has allowed him to experiment and move out of the traditional ways of processing coffee. As per the management of the farm he has someone in charge of the daily chores while he dedicates completely to processing and commercialization the coffee.

Paulo Alirio is also a taster, so for him overseeing processing is a way of keeping control of quality and checking out how the experiments are coming out.

His biggest challenges as of right know are incrementing the production of the farm as only 4 hectares are dedicated to coffee with the total area being 6 hectares. And he wants to optimize resources and the administrative organization of the farm. Paulo Alirio wants to keep improving and invites you to get to know his farm and cup some coffee with him.

Resting beans inside the sealed bag helps develop peak flavours and acidity

Learn how long and why you should wait in our brewing window recommendations.

Try our step-by-step recipes and videos

Our recipes are easy to follow and designed to bring the best out of our coffee. Find your favourite method on our brew guides collection or test a new one—and if you have any questions, ask us anytime at [email protected].