We initially discovered Don Gabriel's coffee in an unexpected place – Glasgow! At the 2019 Glasgow Coffee Festival, we met Diana from Colombian Artisan Coffee. She was just starting to import coffee from her native Colombia to the U.K. Diana, originally from San Roque near Medellín, has three brothers who produce coffee in an area with great potential and many small producers.
We’re always on the lookout for new coffees, so conversations like this are common. Diana had something unique that she thought would be perfect for us, and when we tasted it, we agreed.
The cherries for our first batch came from three farms: El Descanso, El Tractor, and Villa Sierra, all processed at the Renacer micro-washing station in Medellín. The following year, we purchased a single lot from El Tractor that impressed us, and we’ve been buying coffee from the farm ever since.
El Tractor, owned by Don Gabriel Cortes, produces mainly Bourbon varietal coffee at 2,300 meters above sea level on Medellín’s eastern edge.
Don Gabriel has been a farmer since he was a child in Vegachí, some seventy miles or so North East of Medellín, but unfortunately a little over sixteen years ago, violence in the Vegachí region forced him to leave his life there behind. He had to start a new chapter and chose to do it in the neighbourhood of La Sierra with El Tractor. Coffee growing requires long term commitment - when you plant trees, it’s going to take at least three years before you see the benefits - so it’s inspirational to see him taking that risk after being forced to leave everything behind.
He comes from an extremely humble background and (until very recently) lived disconnected from the world in a self built hut, with no electricity, no mobile phone and everything is at least a thirty minute walk away, through steep terrain and in some cases at risk of mudslides. When it comes to the coffee he produces, he uses donkeys to navigate the steep terrain, bringing the cherries down to the washing station where it's processed in tanks before drying on raised beds. The fact he can produce amazing coffee and get it to us is really quite the miracle!
In late 2023, Don Gabriel had a machete accident on his farm, badly cutting his hand. Such accidents are common on coffee farms, but as an older gentleman, it posed a greater risk. Living on a remote farm without electricity, Don Gabriel decided to wait for someone to visit, hoping the injury would heal on its own.
Unfortunately, by the time someone visited, the injury had worsened, and Don Gabriel had started losing mobility in his hand. Although he was reluctant to go to the hospital, a visiting family member persuaded him to seek medical attention, and we're very thankful they did. Diana, who maintains close relationships with all the farmers she works with, heard the news and travelled to see Don Gabriel in hospital, and very kindly offered to cover his medical expenses on behalf of Colombian Artisan Coffee.
After making sure Don Gabriel was getting the care he needed, Diana reached out to Roland our Green Buyer as we'd been buying Don Gabriel's coffee for a number of years to tell him about what had happened, and asked if there was anything we could do to help. Diana was covering all the medical bills and making sure Don Gabriel was being looked after, and after a few ideas going back and forth, we settled on paying for solar panels to be installed on Don Gabriel's house so he could, for the first time at El Tractor, have electricity in the house.
Don Gabriel has been making a good recovery and is starting to regain the mobility in his injured hand; he's back on the farm, he's taking his medicine, and in true Don Gabriel style is already back to farming too! The solar panels we paid for on his home are providing power for lighting (he was living by candle light for over 10 years!), a fridge, a phone charger, a TV, and a whopping sound system too! Diana posted a video on the Colombian Artisan Coffee Instagram quickly catching up with Don Gabriel and his brother recently so if you'd like to see a little more about them, please click here.
Don Gabriel is very strict when it comes to the cherry selection process on his farm, which we think is reflected really well in the cup! Once the cherries are picked, he transports them to the processing centre. After screening, only the ripe cherries that live up to his high standards are allowed into the fermentation process.
We’re proud to buy coffee from Don Gabriel and contribute to his recovery. Relationships like this with producers and exporters bring us joy, and we’re thankful for their efforts to provide us with amazing quality coffee to roast for you all in Stafford.
