José Hernán Quintero has been involved with coffee for as long as he can remember. His parents were coffee producers and having his own land to produce coffee and continue his parent’s legacy had always been a dream. However, the reality of the socio-political situation in Colombia put to test this dream. The people of Rioblanco, where José is from, were forced to flee due to war and seek refuge in the surrounding mountains. Understandably this proved to be a massive challenge for Jose Hernán’s passion for coffee but luckily it prevailed just long enough to see the end of this violence.

In 2006, Jose Hernán received an invitation from the coffee growers committee to participate in the Cup of Excellence that was taking place in Bucaramanga. He decided to participate in the prestigious contest, achieving the 17th place. In 2009 he decided to participate again, and he reached 6th place. This motivated him to pay closer attention to his coffee and to focus solely on producing specialty coffee. Over the years, Jose Hernán has started to focus more on producing honey processed coffee. He also plans to plant a wider range of traditional varieties.

We were lucky to secure a small amount of this Red Honey processed Bourbon lot through Caravela.

Jose Hernán runs Finca la Pradera together with his wife Nubia Marín and their son. Nubia is in charge accounting and keeping a record of traceability for every single lot and their son is in charge of receiving the coffee after picking and carrying out the post-harvest processes. He is in charge of training and giving instructions to the workers and pickers. For Jose Hernán, what makes his farm special is how the family works together as a team.