ARISTOBULO RAYO - Colombia

Producer – Aristobulo Rayo

Process – Washed 

Varietal – Geisha

Origin – Colombia

Tasting Notes – Apple, Blackberry, Caramel

Notes:

Aristóbulo Rayo Méndez owns Finca La Victoria, a 47-hectare farm tucked away in Ortega, Tolima. Coffee growing runs deep in his family, and with over 50 years of experience, it’s safe to say it’s a lifelong passion. Out of the 47 hectares, only 8 are dedicated to coffee cultivation, the rest includes 10 hectares of natural forest, which Aristóbulo takes great care to protect. On the farm, you'll find varietals like Castillo, Caturra, and Geisha, with around 38,000 trees in total.

During the harvest season, coffee is picked roughly every 20 days. Pickers are paid a premium for selecting only the ripest cherries, a small but important detail that speaks to the quality focus here. Once picked, the cherries head to the beneficio (processing station), where they’re pulped and then fermented for 24 hours in a tiled tank. After that, the coffee is washed three times and then dried on African beds.

Aristóbulo has been part of Café Agrario for six years, a local association made up mostly of coffee producers from Ortega. The group has faced its fair share of challenges, from the instability of the region due to civil conflict to setbacks caused by poor leadership—like selling coffee on credit to buyers who never paid.

Lately, though, things are looking up. The group has been shifting focus toward specialty coffee, aiming to increase the value of their beans. They’ve also started roasting and selling coffee locally.

Our partners at Siruma, who specialize in exporting Colombian specialty coffee, have been instrumental in supporting this community. Their agronomist, Pilar, has been running workshops on coffee processing and helping the association build a stronger organizational structure, something they identified as a key need early on when initial baseline data was gathered.