People
Aura Rosa Manco runs Finca La Aguada, located in La Sierrita, Giraldo, in the Colombian region of Antioquia. Aura is one of the members of our coffee lot “Mujeres de Colombia“, with which she already showed us what she is capable of.
Finca La Aguada, sits at an altitude of 2000 m.a.s.l. and here Aura lives with her family. One horse, a small family, only 4-5 employees. It seems Aura doesn’t have so many tools on her Finca, and yet her coffee is remarkable.
For her being a coffee farmer is a substantial part of her familiar tradition since she cannot remember being away from the coffee field. When she got married to Mario Pulgarin, she realized that her dream was to be a coffee producer, exactly like Mario and her father.
The family helps her in running the farm and during the harvest season. What makes Aura’s attitude standing out is that the 4-5 employees of the Finca are part of the family. She prepares lunch and dinner for them, as well.
Product
Finca La Aguada has 4000 trees of Caturra, Castillo, and Colombia and lays on 1 hectare. Care, attention, passion makes this coffee special, not only during the process but also during the selection of the cherries to be collected.
Aura has impressed us right from the beginning. She is fiercely proud of the value of her coffee and her efforts. The de-pulping is done the next day of cherries’ collection and the fermentation process includes more or less 40 hours in the tank. Afterwards, the cherries are brought to the marquesina to dry and this process can last between 8 to 10 days, depending on the weather conditions.
Price
The Coffee Quest is happy to see great satisfaction in Aura’s eyes. According to her, the partnership with us is a great motivation for her to improve the quality of her coffee. For a coffee farmer, the land is something precious to take care of over the years, so you can imagine the excitement and joy when the fruit of their hard work is appreciated and valued with fair and right prices.
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Planet
One of the main challenges for Aura Rosa Manco is to comply with the environmental sustainability of the farm. She makes sure that the maximum allowed use of chemicals is applied to her coffee plants. To control the coffee berry borer (known as broca), for example, she applies cultural control (el re-re).
Moreover, at Finca La Aguada, they let decompose the pulp of the coffee cherries so as to re-use it as organic fertilizer, take advantage of the natural shades of trees, and avoid any burning in the field.
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