Colombia Alejandro & Victor Ortega Washed

Farid Alejandro Ortega, also known as Alejo by friends and family, is a 26 year old coffee producer who lives in the area of La Muralla, about 15 minutes' drive outside of San Agustin, Huila. Like most of his extended family, he’s lived his whole life as a coffee producer, and yet has had limited access to a direct market that grants him knowledge of where his coffee ends up, and how it is appreciated by the clients who drink it in consuming countries. His father Victor has been an active member of the Los Naranjos group, a series of small producers who have been producing specialty-grade coffees for Cafe Imports for at least a decade. Alejo worked alongside his father as he grew up and contributed to the cultivation and processing of coffees that were sold by his father as part of the group. The following is a small note from Alejo, translated into English: “My beginning as a coffee grower began as I watched my grandfather working in the coffee fields. They worked hard and did everything with love, and that’s why I fell in love also with coffee growing. I’m a coffee grower because I love the countryside and I love coffee. As a coffee grower, I feel great because coffee has taught me how to be a better person — how to have patience and to do things with dedication and love. As a coffee-growing family, coffee has united us even more since we work side by side as a team in everything that we do. I hope that coffee growing will continue to teach me to be a better person and that I can help my family because I know now that if I work hard, I can achieve whatever I wish.”