Carmen Poveda is 62 years old and has been working with coffee her entire life. Raised by traditional coffee farmers, she has always found joy working in the countryside, and wants to carry on the tradition which has been passed on for over 100 years.
Carmen's farm and home is on Las Palmas, in the municipality of Zipacón, at 1550 meters above sea level. To this day you can find Carmen personally picking and pruning away her Castillo coffee trees, which she was finding difficulty to maintain alone, considering her age.
Since joining La Palma & El Tucan's Neighbors & Crops program, who aim to assist neighboring farmers by easing their production process physically and strategically. Their aim is to assist older generations and inspire younger generations to continue producing quality coffee in an environmentally sustainable manner.
This Castillo was processed using a process named 'Bio-innovation' which was named in honor of organic farming principles. Firstly they capture and reproduce micro-organisms found in their farm’s beautiful forests, to create their own fermentation substrate. Then, they mix this substrate with perfectly ripened cherries, in a clay pot for 100 hours. This combination allows them to create a sustainable closed cycle. After the fermentation, they remove the leftovers and reuse them as compost. This whole process, this coffee gave us delicious flavours of mango nectar, butterscotch and milk chocolate.
