about Finca Monteblanco
Finca Monteblanco is a family-owned coffee farm managed by Rodrigo Sanchez Valencia, located in Vereda La Tocora in the municipality of San Adolfo, above Pitalito. The farm follows the traditional coffee cultivation methods of Rodrigo's grandfather. The 18-hectare farm is situated on a hilltop with the wet mill and drying facilities at the top and coffee planted on the slopes below.
Rodrigo became interested in cupping competitions that evaluate the best coffee lots from different farms in a particular region. He noticed that some farms would win one year and then never again, which made him curious about how to consistently produce quality coffee. This led him to investigate the trees planted on Monteblanco, where he discovered various coffee varieties that his grandfather had planted in the 1980s. One of these varieties is Purple Caturra, which is a type of Caturra with cherries that ripen to a deep purple color.
Rodrigo, along with his wife Claudia Samboni, farm manager Don Gerardo, and the team working in the fields and at the mill, have achieved the goal of consistent quality at Finca Monteblanco. The farm produces microlots with each harvest that serve as competition coffees worldwide. Furthermore, the farm consistently produces containers of delicious coffees that appear year-round on café menus and retail shelves. By applying an ethic of rigorous monitoring, planning, and management at each stage of production and processing, all coffees from Monteblanco showcase their full potential.
