Neftali Cifuentes

Neftali Cifuentes grows coffee as part of the Agua de Dios association in Northern Tolima. Much like the rest of Colombia (and indeed many other producing countries), Tolima has an acute problem with an ageing population of coffee producers. Most young people are choosing to move to cities looking for more formal jobs with better income. The Agua de Dios association of around 20 very small producers was created to combat this, enhancing pooling of resources and knowledge to create better quality coffee together, and to increase their relevance on an international scale. The overall aim is to create a sustainable and profitable coffee growing business in Northern Tolima, thus encouraging young people to remain in coffee producing lands. This year La REB have helped to export each of the members coffees separately with full traceability throughout the process, no easy feat when dry milling such small lots of coffee. Neftali grows both the traditional Colombian varietal Caturra and the disease resistant hybrid Colombia varietal on her farm, and processes using a La REB recommended double fermentation, with a pre-fermentation in-cherry before a traditional washed process. This fermentation leads to a very clean, almost artificial cane sugar sweetness, a fresh cranberry acidity, and an interesting ginger spice character in the finish.