Doña María Cristina's Finca El Realce is located in San Francisco, Cundinamarca (Colombia), between 1480 and 1600 mamsl. A natural forest reserve surrounds the farm, providing the best environmental conditions for certified organic coffee production in microlots. Doña María Cristina and her family are very passionate, and are always pushing the envelope in order to produce the best coffees with the best agronomic practices, which translates into a great cup.

After living in Bogotá for many years, Doña María Cristina felt the need to connect with nature, triggering the beginning of her coffee journey. She came across the opportunity to buy two farms, Finca El Realce and Finca Agua Viva. In both cases, the land was being used for cattle rather than produce. After a slow but constant process of restoration, the grass was removed little by little, giving space to an emerging ecosystem restoration process that continues and is still developing today. Seeing her hard work, she eventually connected with other farm owners in the area and founded a cooperative of organic farmers that continuously collaborates on best ecological practices.

After 15 years in the coffee business, the farm has completed its transition to entirely organic production and planted new varieties of coffee that grow alongside fruit trees and native plants. Nature is showing its gratitude and has increasingly recovered native flora and fauna not seen in decades. Throughout this time, her son Jaime and daughter Alexandra, have supported her in every step, from buying the land to the post-harvest processing and cupping of her coffee. 

We reached out to Doña María Cristina through her daughter Alexandra. José and Alexandra worked together at SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala), and during a casual talk, the opportunity presented itself to show our friends the hard work her mom is doing in Colombia and share her amazing coffee.