Coffee Desierto Tatacoa

Hertson Bernal is the owner of Farm La Esperanza since 2006, his story as a producer begins with his brother Jesus, they worked managing a coffee farm for several years, there they learned a lot and their entrepreneurial spirits led them to Farm La Esperanza.

While they were working managing the coffee farm they decided to plant lulo -a kind of orange- together with one of the owners of the farm where they were working, Herston and his brother made an effort to have the lulo crop well attended and at the same time respond well in the coffee farm, This effort had its reward because when they harvested the fruit of the lulo they were able to sell it at a very good price and this allowed them to create a small savings that would help them to fulfill their dream in the future. began their search until they came across La Farm La Esperanza. When they saw the Farm for the first time they fell in love with it, they saw the potential they could get out of it to create their project with their families. They liked the La Esperanza farm very much for its location, close to the school and also close to the village, although the conditions of the farm were not optimal when they bought it, it was abandoned, had very old coffee trees of the common or Arabica variety, the house was in very bad condition and the mill was in very bad conditions, it also did not have a dryer.

Previously La Esperanza had belonged to Jorge Omar Esterling, an older man who had been widowed and had moved to the town a few años ago to attend to his children’s studies, which is why the farm had been neglected. Mr. Jorge was enthusiastic about Hertson’s project of improving the Farm he had loved so much, so they managed to reach a purchase agreement where both Hertson’s and his brother’s employers supported them with their signatures. A year has passed since all these steps were taken, Hertson was able to settle in the Farm La Esperanza and began to renovate the existing coffee plantations with the Caturra, Castillo, Colombia and Cenicafé varietals. While living on the La Esperanza farm, they built a new beneficio and later built the house where Hertson and his family now live. Since they acquired the Farm they have not stopped making improvements, shortly after moving in they also built a room for the workers with a bathroom and separate laundry room, and for the last seven years Jesus, Hertson’s brother, has also been living with his family on the Farm. The first year of the farm’s harvest, Hertson participated in the Guadalupe fair and did not obtain good results, after a year Hertson tried again and won a trip to the coffee region. became passionate about specialty coffee and began to participate in more fairs. Hertson’s entire family is dedicated to working on the La Esperanza farm. In addition to them, an average of 4 to 6 people work on the farm from Monday to Saturday when they are not in harvest season; when they are in season the team varies from 10 to 14 people for harvesting and farm chores.