Genova - Fully Washed

This is our third coffee from the remote village of Colón Génova and the inspiring producer collective behind Argote Specialty Coffee. Following our previous popular releases from Yuli Urbano, and neighbors Jesús and Gerardo, this exceptional lot brings us right to the heart of the family that started it all. This coffee is grown and meticulously cared for by Maria Argote, the 78-year-old aunt of project co-founder Juan Pablo Argote. Maria manages her two-hectare farm—comprising 5,000 coffee trees—largely by herself after her husband was injured in a car crash. Doing the vast majority of the harvesting, processing, and sorting by hand, she occasionally receives assistance from an autistic woman she cares for in her home. This lot is a beautiful showcase of how direct trade quite literally changes lives at a household level, resulting in a cup packed with sweet, deep fruit and a rich, chocolatey backbone.

Social Kontext:

We buy this coffee through our main green coffee supplier, This Side Up from the Netherlands. In 2014, father-and-son team Efraín and Juan Pablo Argote partnered with them to revolutionize how coffee is grown and traded in their remote village. After returning from the city, Juan Pablo recognized the untapped potential of their volcanic terroir and began mobilizing his community. Today, the entire village is positively shaped by their direct trade philosophy. Maria’s story perfectly embodies the project's focus on community care and gender equality, proving that age and hardship are no barriers to producing world-class specialty coffee when given the right structural support.

Economic Kontext:

When this collaboration first launched, This Side Up and Juan Pablo calculated that selling just five containers of the village's specialty coffee through direct channels would generate enough sustainable income to provide adequate food, healthcare, and education for the entire community. They have been working diligently toward this goal ever since. For Maria, the impact is direct and tangible: thanks to the higher premiums she now receives through this transparent supply chain, she has been able to upgrade her farm's infrastructure, easing the heavy physical burden of her daily farm operations.

Environmental Kontext:

Colón Génova's high-altitude, volcanic topography provides a natural foundation for exceptional coffee, but maintaining it requires a shift away from chemical dependence. In 2018, the Argote family established an Agroforestry Training Hub. This vital facility teaches local smallholders about soil health, biofertilization, and sustainability—a rare and precious resource in Colombia, where the government heavily subsidizes artificial pesticides and fertilizers.