Immerse yourself in the tropical highlands of Colombia. In the green mountains, coffee grows next to the tropical rainforest. El Cairo (Valle del Cauca) lies at 1800 m above sea level. The climate is ideal for Arabica coffee bushes – CAFÉ COMAM thrives here.
Fifteen families, small farmers, cultivate CAFÉ COMAM. They live around El Cairo on agro-ecological fincas. This means that in addition to coffee, they grow many other fruits and vegetables for sale and for their own consumption. These are primarily bananas and platanos, but also yucca, oranges, mandarins, avocados, beans, maize, etc. Animals such as chickens and cows are also kept, milked and cheese is made from them.
On all fincas, 1 ha to even 25 ha of land are left to nature. Because one thing is clear: for all fifteen families, environmental protection and nature conservation are central.
That is why they work together with the Serraniagua environmental association. Not only to grow coffee in a traditional, ecological and climate-friendly way. But above all to jointly preserve the enormous biodiversity on site.
Producer: Familia Lopez, Francisney & Gustavo & Carolina
Growing altitude: 1.600 m
Variety: 100 % Arabica (Castillo)
Origin: El Cairo, Valle, Colombia
Francisney is proud of his 45,000 coffee bushes, which he has been cultivating for 32 years together with his extended family. The dream of selling his coffee beans directly and at a better, fair price has now come true.
Producers: Alexandra, Claudia, Piedad, Yaneth
Cultivation altitude: 1.450 m
Variety: 100 % Arabica (Castillo)
Origin: El Cairo, Valle, Colombia
In the past, it would have been unthinkable for women to grow coffee. Today, Alexandra, Yaneth, Piedad and Claudia cultivate their own coffee plants in the shade of citrus trees and banana trees, in the middle of the jungle of Colombia.
Producers:
Gabriel Trejos, César Rúa, Iván de Jesús Grajales, Gerardo Salazar
Growing altitude: 1,400-1,640 m
Varieties: Castillo, Colombia, Arabigo
Origin: El Cairo, Valle, Colombia
What a wealth of life! 15 families produce climate-friendly speciality coffee across generations, preserving not only the cultural and coffee landscape in the Colombian highlands, but also the enormous biodiversity.
