Martha Arcila, Colombia

Finca La Leone, owned by Martha Arcila, is a high-production estate specialising in cultivating the Caturra varietal. Caturra is a staple in the Central and South American growing regions and originates from Brazil, esteemed for its high yields as good quality every-day coffee. Twenty years ago, Martha inherited two farms from her late father, Hernando Arcila. During most of that time, she focused on coffee cultivation with a strong emphasis on production yield with every harvest. However, in 2019, her perspective shifted when she joined Cofinet's single-estate program, aiming to elevate her Caturra’s cup quality and value.

Throughout harvest, Martha’s coffee cherries are selectively picked under a strict ripeness criterion before being floated and hand-sorted at the washing station. Although the region, Quindio, offers prime conditions for coffee cultivation, the higher ambient temperatures pose challenges for fermentation during processing. Consequently, this coffee lot is stored in airtight bags and submerged in water tanks to ensure a controlled environment for fermentation. The coffee is then pulped and gently washed before a monitored drying phase until it reaches the desired moisture content. This meticulous process yields coffee with an inviting sweetness, a vibrant acidity, and an enhanced cup profile as a result of the small yet impactful practices in the harvesting and fermentation stages.

Martha’s coffee comes to us from our partners at Cofinet, a partnership of great coffees we’ve proudly served for many years now, championing their efforts to advance the local and global specialty coffee industries. We have followed their journey, from making better quality Colombian coffee more accessible to appearing on world competition stages. Up till a few years ago, it was near impossible to find a Colombian that wasn’t a washed process, let alone any innovative processing of late, and Cofinet has been at the forefront of these innovations. Beyond coffee they take holistic approaches toward education for producers, global partnerships with roasters, and sustainability on the fields.

Among the founding members of Cofinet are Carlos and Felipe Arcila, fourth-generation coffee producers. We've previously featured coffee and cascara from the Arcila family, and it may come as no surprise that Martha Arcila is a relative, an aunt to the Arcila brothers. Prior to starting Cofinet, the Arcila family had been growing and distributing high-quality Colombian coffees for over 80 years. In 2015, they took a monumental leap forward by expanding their operations, forging close partnerships with producers in neighbouring regions, and establishing themselves as direct exporters to connect with the international specialty coffee market. They now also represent and support numerous Colombian specialty coffee growers with the primary goal to foster direct relationships between farmers at the source and roasters across the globe.