Santa Barbara Estate is composed of 5 sister farms that lie across three neighbouring, geographical regions – Santa Barbara, Fredonia and Amaga. Established in the1980s, from the beginning Sr. Pedro Echavarria knew that location was crucial. Attracted by diverse microclimates, singular volcanic soils, perfect altitude and a tradition of excellence in coffee production, he established a small farm in the high Andes of Antioquia. By marrying these perfect natural conditions with hard work and efficiency, he quickly grew both the area under cultivation and the farm’s reputation.

In the last five years, Pedro’s son – also Pedro – has become more deeply involved in the workings of the farm, taking the already high quality of the coffee to new heights .Pedro Jr. and Santa Barbara’s Coffee Director, Leonardo Henao Triana are committed to further developing the Estate’s capacity for the highest quality coffee possible .

The Veracruz lots come from one of the Estate’s smaller farms, composed of 16 hectares of coffee and a small mill.

Each Veracruz lot is comprised of five days’picking. Each day, pulped beans are added to a fermentation tank with a built-in refrigeration unit that circulates water at temperature at about 18 C,significantly below normal fermentation temperatures of 25/26 C.

In this cool, high climate, sun drying for larger producers is challenging due, in part, to space requirements. Small producers with low volumes of coffee to dry often sun drying, but larger scale producers, such as Santa Barbara Estate, must find other methods. Santa Barbara has traditionally used silo drying as reliable drying method. Parchment coffee is loaded into drying silos, which are then operated at around 60% of their heat capacity in order to slowly dry and better preserve the coffee. In silo drying, the temperature never reaches beyond 40-45 degrees, and the farms have always had an excellent result from the process.

Santa Barbara Estate employs 60 people all year round, who on average earn 30% above the minimum wage. Half of these also receive free housing within the farm for themselves and their families. A further 1,200 pickers are hired during the main harvest, comprised mainly of farmers from around the Santa Barbara Estate who pick coffee to supplement their income. Workers are generally long term employees and have been with the company for more than 10 years.

The Santa Barbara Estate also runs an extensive scholarship and financial aid program for worker’s children as well as helping long-standing employees to acquire their own piece of land upon retirement.