Finca Las Brisas：Commitment to Innovation and Sustainability
Located in the foothills of the eastern mountain range in the municipality of Acevedo, Huila, Finca Las Brisas gets its name from the gentle currents of air that flow through its grounds, cooling the crops and nourishing the streams and creeks that cross the farm. Finca Las Brisas is a coffee farm, but it is also a family legacy that has been passed down through four generations. The owner John Wilmer Cuéllar Rodríguez who grew up surrounded by stories of the hard times of coffee, it was told by his grandparents, who lived through times when effort was not always rewarded by a good price. Since then, the family has witnessed great challenges and transformations in the coffee industry.
The Cuellar family have all grown up with the legacy of coffee growing, John Wilmer is fourth generation and now his children are beginning to learn about coffee growing and their family legacy making them the fifth generation of coffee growers. The Cuellar family is characterised by their great commitment to teamwork, which is why they have been able to outperform other farms in the region. John tells us that each member has a role to play, from coffee picking and milling to processing and drying, his sister Leidy Dayana Cuellar is an environmental engineer specialising in geographic information systems and is responsible for the protection of water sources and geographic control of the farm to ensure sustainable production, preserving the sense of responsibility for the environment that their father instilled in them since they were children.
John’s father faced one of the farm’s biggest challenges when rust devastated much of his crops. But instead of giving up, he decided to plant new, more resistant varieties, such as Castillo and Colombia, which allowed the farm to recover. Eventually, the Cuellar family began to explore the world of specialty coffees, planting varietals such as Tabi, Geisha, Pacamara, Papayo, Tipica, Bourbon Sidra, Bourbon Rayado, Bourbon Rosado and Sudan Rume.
While watching his father innovate and overcome every crisis, John decided to deepen his knowledge of coffee. At the SENA in Yamboró, (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) a public educational establishment in Colombia that offers free training with technical, technological and complementary programmes, he acquired knowledge about soil nutrition, yield factors, roasting and coffee cupping. These skills not only allowed him to improve the quality of his coffee, but also to find new marketing opportunities. Everything John learned at SENA is what he continues to apply today in the farm’s processes, which has allowed him to make himself known at local and regional fairs that have opened the door to meet buyers interested in his coffees.
Today, John is the proud owner of Finca Las Brisas, committed to maintaining the family legacy while moving the farm towards a sustainable future. Under his leadership, the farm has undergone major improvements in infrastructure, building warehouses for optimal coffee storage, and erecting large, tall, ventilated canopies to ensure slow and even drying, which is part of Finca Las Brisas’ commitment to the environment.
The farm has also established its own laboratory, where all the quality analyses are carried out once the coffee is ready for drying, where they also help other farms to analyse their coffees and give them recommendations to improve the processes, and teach them how to carry out physical and sensory analyses so that they can understand and give value to what they produce.
Finca Las Brisas decided to follow a different path in the world of speciality coffee, avoiding more modern practices such as adding fruit or yeast to the process. They prefer to remain faithful to traditional processes such as washing, honey and natural; valuing the purity of each coffee, some of the modern processes can alter the original flavour of the bean and generate more contamination.
John and his family believe that each coffee variety has its own character, and by taking care of each process, they can bring out the unique attributes of each one. ‘Our goal is for the end customer to enjoy a pure coffee, with authentic sensory properties. We want each cup to reflect the hard work, respect for nature and love for coffee that we put into each bean,’ says John Wilmer.
This privileged environment, combined with the continued efforts of the Cuellar family, has allowed the farm to thrive, and their commitment to sustainability and quality coffee ensures a bright future for generations to come.
John Wilmer Cuellar Rodriguez, along with his family, continues to carry on the legacy of Finca Las Brisas, a place where tradition, innovation and respect for the environment come together to produce exceptional coffees that delight palates around the world.
