Cantillo Family
Year founded
1987
Partnered with Stumptown
2007
Varieties
San Bernardo, Bourbon, Typica and Caturra
Processing technique
Washed
On Our Menu
The Producer
Isaías Cantillo runs his fourth generation family farm with a dedication to quality and a great attention to detail. His narrow focus on quality, hard work, and a humble dedication to innovation shine through in his beautiful coffee every year. His sons have joined in the family business, a good sign that La Esperanza will be a sustainable, profitable business for years to come.
The Place
The Cantillo Family farm, La Esperanza, sits high up in the Andes mountains in the Huila province of southern Colombia. Isaías Cantillo Ossa purchased the farm in 1987 and uses half of it to grow coffee, while the other half remains a native forest.
The Process
Coffee at La Esperanza is manually depulped and then fermented. After fermented coffee is washed, it’s then floated in tanks to help sort and remove lower quality beans. The high quality beans which remain are dense, sweet, and nuanced.
Isaías and his family nurture and protect their coffee at one of the most vulnerable moments: the drying stage. Coffee parchment is pre-dried at low temperatures for two to three days to wick water away, it’s then fully dried on covered patios. Drying entirely without any direct sunlight is unusual and innovative. The parchment dries very slowly and remains tight with no cracking which preserves the integrity and uniformity of the bean.