Colombia

Juan Carlos Velez

Juan Carlos Velez and his family have been farming coffee at La Isleta for over 20 years, and have a long family history in coffee. La Isleta is located in the Antioquia region, 3 hours south of Medellín near Ciudad Bolivar. The farm lies on the road from Ciudad Bolivar up into the protected forest reserve of Farallones de Citará, and the name is a result of the isolation on the long road, the ‘little island’ at the highest elevation before the forest reserve begins. The water supply for the whole town of Ciudad Bolivar comes from the mountain streams above the farm, so Juan Carlos and his team hold themselves to the highest standards of conservation, both of native species and of water. Here, they grow several of the most popular Colombian varietals, Caturra, Castillo and Colombia, and have recently begun to experiment with processing.

Natural processing is not popular here, with the humid and cool conditions high in the Andean spine making consistent drying difficult. Juan Carlos has invested in mechanical driers, allowing him to produce his first naturals. This natural lot has a soft and clean expression, with a deep sweetness, while holding onto some of the fresh tropical fruit notes we would expect from this region.