It all began in 1995, when our Farm to Cup partners in Colombia, the parents of the Bayter Family, decided to embark on an agricultural adventure at the El Vergel farm. With passion and dedication, they began to grow avocados, making their farm one of the most productive in the country. However, in 2006, avocado prices dropped sharply due to a disease that severely affected the crop.
Between 2009 and 2010, Martha, the Bayter's mother, decided to diversify her crops and save costs by introducing coffee varieties such as Baltimore, red, and yellow caturra, challenging the limits of her knowledge.
As interest in coffee grew, the Bayters embarked on a journey of empirical knowledge about pulping and different types of fermentation. Together with Nelson Moya, a coffee enthusiast who showed them different processing equipment, they immersed themselves in the search for specialty coffees from Colombia and certified their farm as "Rainforest" by the prestigious "Federación Nacional de Cafeteros" between 2014 and 2015. Their dedication and love for coffee began to bear fruit. In 2016, they met Miguel Jimenez, an expert in varietal and specialty coffees, who guided the Bayters in planting varieties such as Geisha, Java, Pacamara, Red Bourbon, and Laurina, giving the first productions of these coffees in 2017, marking a milestone in their trajectory.
As time progressed, the Bayter family modernized the farm, and in 2018, natural coffee processes were implemented, such as aerobic and anaerobic, and silos were acquired for coffee storage. Little by little, they became pioneers of innovation and quality. The Bayter family conducts exhaustive research on bacteria and yeasts to control fermentation. Together with tireless experimentation of processes, reaching unprecedented levels of excellence in their coffees. El Vergel has expanded to have more than 28 varietals spread throughout its lands. It is characterized as the first coffee farm in Colombia to develop the KOJI fermentation process. This process has completely changed the game in experimental green coffee.
Situated in Gaitania, Tolima, an area historically impacted by conflict and renowned as the birthplace of Colombian coffee, Emmanuel, a dedicated coffee grower, embarked on a venture. In 2016, in collaboration with his family, they established a coffee processing center to assist over 15 villages in Gaitania, facilitating local coffee growers in bean processing. Forest Coffee and Emmanuel joined forces in 2019 to establish the Black Condor Project, supporting farmers in Gaitania affected by guerrilla warfare. They regularly conduct workshops with producers to emphasize quality and cover processes such as fermentation, drying, and cupping their coffees.
This innovative coffee process begins with a 120-hour anaerobic fermentation in cherry with dehydrated passion fruit pulp. Subsequently, the beans go to mechanical drying in a silo for 144 hours and then undergo a 30-day stabilization period. Before that, the coffee undergoes an EA Sugarcane decaf process. The extraction of caffeine involves circular containers filled with water and ethyl acetate, lowering caffeine levels by 0.1%. The outcome is a smooth, flavorful, and delightful coffee with notes of passion fruit and tangerine.
