Finca La Esperanza – Deiby, the mad coffee enthusiast

Friso Spoor

Friso Spoor

People

Deiby Sair Sanchez Zabala is a 33 years old coffee farmer who runs Finca La Esperanza, in Gigante, Huila. Deiby is like a mad scientist whose life goes around experiments, and so far the results have been highly promising. 

The farm sits at an altitude of 1710 m.a.s.l. and consists of 2.5 hectares of coffee plants, of which is almost 100% Caturra and a bit of Geisha. Deiby lives on the finca and works with his brother, who helps him with harvesting, transport, and post-harvest processing. Finca La Esperanza has no fixed employees, but during the main harvest, 4 temporary workers are hired. 

Life on a Colombian coffee farm is simple but requires sacrifices and dedication every day. Almost every coffee grower dedicates himself and his whole day to the work in the field. To plant, collect, dry the coffee cherries or check their quality. Whether he’s doing the job by himself or with someone’s help, he will make sure the same care is maintained throughout the process. 

It seems Finca La Esperanza (which means “the hope”) goes around one thing: Deiby’ s dream to get paid well for his Geisha and so be able to buy the full property from his brother. The dedication for coffee flows in Deiby’s blood. He and his brothers inherited the 6 Ha farm from his father 5 years ago, but he is actually the real coffee-enthusiast.

Everything started when his grandfather 120 years ago in 1900, member and president of liga de colonos, entered the farm with his two brothers. At that time Colombia was experiencing brutal violence and the farm was the only existing one in the area.  The brothers died except for Deiby’s father, who inherited it. However, later on, after his death, the finca passed on Deiby’s 10 brothers and his mother.  

“Coffee is a way of living. from which to earn something. I like the idea to  depend on it” – Deiby Sanchez

 

Product

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The coffee from Finca La Esperanza is the winner of local competitions over the last year. Deiby never received an award but he truly loves the idea of his coffee being valued as one of the best.

“We need to produce high-quality coffee to make the differences [with lower quality] visible.”  – Deiby Sanchez

After washing the coffee is taken to slow-dry from 20 to even 40 days in a parabolic dryer of bamboo. Out of curiosity, he built it himself and resembles a natural version of the famous Centre Pompidou in Paris!. 

Price

This is our 3rd year working with Deiby and The Coffee Quest hopes to continue working with him for many upcoming years. Deiby Sanchez has something in common with us, the mutual trust and thirst for transparent prices and high quality standards. 

“I’m very pleased I met The Coffee Quest because since then I decided to improve my cup profile and experiment with new varieties.”  – Deiby Sanchez

Planet

Deiby Sanchez takes care of the environment by avoiding the use of chemicals, except for fertilizers. To control any pests or fungal diseases in crops, for example, roya or broca, he doesn’t use any chemical gases or smokes. On the contrary, he treats them with ecological control, such as sulfocalcico broth for broca.  

Moreover, at Finca La Esperanza everything seems to work in a circular system. The cherries’ pulp is used to fertilize his garden of vegetables and the slime from the coffee instead is intended to fall into a bamboo structure that serves as a filter to prevent water contamination.  

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