**I recently found a hidden folder with several drafts from 2014 – 2018 that were never published. I decided to revisit and update these posts while I am working a nursing assignment in the Northeast, USA**

For everyone who is wondering: Does this post mean that I am headed to the cafetero (coffee region) of Colombia?  Sadly, no – that journey will have to wait for a future trip (Oct 2023) to Colombia. Instead – it’s time to talk about the ubiquitous “I must be in Colombia” Juan Valdez.  He’s kind of like the North American Marboro Man – except his product won’t kill us. (Equally addictive in my opinion, but oh so deliciously!)

Most people think it’s just a brand name for the Colombian version of Starbucks but that’s just one of it’s latest incantations.  The symbol of Juan Valdez, harvesting coffee beans, has been around a lot longer (since 1958), and represents more than just upscale marketing of an almost universally used product.

When I originally wrote those words, almost 8 years ago – I was thinking about Juan Valdez as the eternal symbol of Colombia – and how as a symbol it has a bit of a double edged sword, as it gives rise to the idea that ALL Colombians are “campesinos” or rural farmers, instead of doctors, lawyers, judges, designers etc.

This can lead into dangerous territory because of the long and tortured history between campesinos and paramilitaries in Colombia. This has been particularly bad for the small independent (and usually poor) farmer in the southern regions of Colombia, where the FARC and other groups still hold considerable power. I was going to write more about this imagery as well as some of the more sophisticated imagery regarding Colombia and Coffee. But that was before I bought my own tiny finca – and began to learn about coffee agriculture.

Now that we are knee deep in classes and books on growing coffee, sustainable and nonchemical practices – it all seems a lot different. But the idea of the uneducated peasant farmer still robs Colombia’s people of the dignity that they deserve. They may not have a college degree in all of this – but the agriculture and economy around coffee growing is pretty complicated/ and sophisticated.

There’s more than varieties of coffee, there are differences in caffeine content based on altitude. We are still preparing the finca for a spring planting (March – April) of an Arabica bean variety popular in our region of Colombia. That means ensuring that we have adequate shade coverage for the plants – which receive a calculated amount of sun-shade for the best bean development. Our coffee will be shaded by plantains – and avocados. (There are some other scattered fruit trees, but we concentrated these for the best shade coverage).

Coffee beans develop and have to be harvested every two weeks. That’s still a manual process. Once the beans have been picked – industrial or large fincas can move on to large scale or mechanized means of preparing the beans to eventually be ready for your coffee cup.

But we are small – and the coffee beans are for our personal use (and some select friends) so it’s all going to be manual production on our farm. We will be doing it the same way that small farmers have been doing it for hundreds of years; drying the beans, sorting and shucking the outer skin, and then taking our small quantity of beans to the Coffee Growers Association and the larger farms to have them carefully roast the beans to our desired roast. It’s time-consuming, and it’s hard work – and that’s why I think I am so drawn to it.

Since we are just starting out – don’t head out to the farm to visit just yet – it takes a minimum of three years for plants to mature enough to provide beans suitable to coffee. (Good thing because we still have so much to learn!) That sounds like a long time, but then I remember that I’ve been writing this blog since 2010, back when I visited Bogota for the first time. (I was supposed to stay a few weeks and then head to San Pedro Sula for a Spanish program.) San Pedro Sula never happened – and the Spanish program has been me, basically winging it – watching a lot of Netflix in Spanish and having (mostly) only Spanish-speaking friends. (A little English always sneaks in – usually folks wanting to practice).

Additional links and information

Juan Valdez official site:  site with information on Juan Valdez and Colombian coffee.

Flavors of Bogota: this is a coffee company that offers courses/ classes for Baristas, and potential coffee shop owners (or anyone who wants to sell coffee, in any form). The people who run the website, Karen and Peter are pretty interesting too. She teaches about coffee at one of the local universities.