Meet Natalia Lezama Ramirez: Coffee Producer in Acevedo, Colombia

When Jonathan and I arrived in Acevedo during our November 2024 visit to learn about the Genesis project, we didn't just meet another coffee producer. We met Natalia Lezama Ramirez, a woman reshaping how we understand coffee leadership in Colombia. Spending time with Natalia, her husband Lisandro, and their children at Finca Alto Gracia showed us a family where traditional roles have been completely reimagined, where coffee expertise flows in all directions.

A Leader Among Women

Natalia serves as president of Flor de Café, a women's association founded in April 2023 that's transforming Acevedo's coffee landscape. The organization emerged from a simple yet profound observation: while coffee was being sold under men's names, women were doing the farming, processing, and crop maintenance, all while caring for their families. Natalia and three other women decided this invisible labor needed recognition.

Their motto captures everything: "Like coffee's bloom, women too deserve to truly thrive."

What started as a committee has grown into a formal association of women producers who now attach their own names to their lots. These aren't just symbolic gestures, they represent real economic empowerment for women who've always been coffee producers but rarely recognized as such.

Partnership at Alto Gracia

At Finca Alto Gracia, Natalia and Lisandro have created something unique. While Lisandro operates as Genesis's buyer for Acevedo, splitting his time between their farm and the headquarters in town where he manages roasting, cupping, and purchasing operations, Natalia focuses on production innovation. She's highly trained in specialty coffee disciplines, bringing technical expertise that matches anyone in the region.

Their gesha trees particularly captivated us during our visit. These notoriously temperamental plants require exceptional care, and Natalia has mastered their cultivation in Acevedo's unique microclimate. The farm sits in those cloudy, rainforested mountains that characterize this part of Huila, where morning mists roll through coffee groves and the volcanic soil provides ideal growing conditions.

Our Time in Acevedo

Walking through their farm with Natalia and Lisandro felt less like a tour and more like visiting old friends who happen to grow extraordinary coffee. Their children joined us, making it a true family affair. We stood among their coffee trees, looking out at those breathtaking Acevedo views, mountains stretching endlessly under shifting clouds, and understood why this place produces some of Colombia's finest coffees.

What struck us most was how naturally Natalia moved between roles, from discussing fermentation protocols to explaining market dynamics, from teaching her children about coffee varieties to strategizing with other women producers. She embodies the new generation of Colombian coffee leadership, one that doesn't wait for recognition but creates it.

The Genesis project brought us to Acevedo, but Natalia and her family showed us its heart. Genesis Coffee Sourcing, founded by a coalition of professional cuppers and producers, supports associations across three Huila towns. In Acevedo, that means working closely with Asociación Primaveral's 62 producers and newer groups like Flor de Café.

Building Community Impact

Natalia's influence extends far beyond Alto Gracia's boundaries. Through Flor de Café, she's helping reshape Acevedo's coffee culture. The association provides technical training, shares processing innovations, and creates solidarity among women who've long worked in isolation. Members conduct coffee washing, processing, and drying on their own farms, maintaining independence while gaining collective strength.

This matters in Acevedo, Colombia's highest-producing coffee municipality, where traditional structures have deep roots. The region discovered Pink Bourbon in its San Adulfo neighborhood and has always been known for innovation, but Natalia's bringing change that goes beyond varieties or processing methods. She's changing who gets credit, who makes decisions, and who benefits from specialty coffee's growth.

Her work complements the broader Genesis mission of supporting producers through quality improvements, better market access, and capacity building. But where Genesis provides infrastructure, Natalia provides inspiration, showing other women that they don't need permission to claim their place in coffee.

Why This Partnership Matters

Working with Natalia means supporting a vision where quality coffee and social progress grow together. Every bag from Finca Alto Gracia represents technical excellence, from carefully managed fermentation to precise drying protocols. But it also represents something bigger, a future where women coffee producers receive both recognition and compensation for their expertise.

Natalia doesn't just grow coffee, she cultivates possibility. In a region famous for its spectacular views and exceptional coffees, she's creating something even more remarkable: a model for how specialty coffee can empower entire communities, starting with the women who've always been at its heart.