RNY on Location: Huila Coffee Trip Highlights

Mike Ward

Trader, Purchase & Sales

Relationships are the heart of everything that we do here at Royal NY. What we do would not be possible without the partnership and support from the other end of the supply chain. Over the years, we’ve seen small producers grow into large-scale operations. We’ve seen children grow into adulthood and learn the family business. And we’ve seen great people learn how to support their communities and share their stories with us and the world. We are one with our partners. What we do here is only a minuscule portion of everything they go through to supply us with the coffees that you love and depend on.

Highlights from our Huila coffee trip

We recently visited our friends Yonathan and Julian Gonzalez of Cuatro Vientos in Huila, Colombia. The trip down there was as fun and welcoming as we could ask for while having its fair share of adventures. From plane rides through storms, our car getting stuck in the mud on the side of a mountain, long car rides, and lots of hiking, just to name a few!

Cuatro Vientos is a family-run operation that supports the district of Huila by working with its best producers from all parts of the mountains. Their focus is to find coffees that are elevated above the standard cup and show off the unique profiles of their home. The two brothers own and operate their own buying stations. However, they also have offices and a full cupping laboratory while handling all exporting themselves. It’s impressive to us that in just 4 years, they’ve been able to create not only a vision of what they’d like to do but also create a reality of actually doing it.

Huila Coffee

Cuatro Vientos supplies us with a handful of now staple favorites from Santa Maria, La Suiza, Acevedo, and Algeciras. Now, thinking of one region would often lead one to believe the cups would all be fairly similar. However, the reality of Colombia is that the microclimates found at all different elevations bring about a unique cupping profile to each specific area. The Santa Maria regional, for instance, is very bright and sugary with notes of honey, orange, and milk chocolate. While the cup from La Suiza is more subtle with notes of cherry, cane sugar and red apple. The differences in the cup profiles represent the real magic of coffees from Colombia. One would be hard pressed to provide a generalized cup profile for a Colombian coffee. Cuatro Vientos is pushing that envelope of a range in profiles even further by sourcing experimental processes and new varietals.

Until next time Huila!

Being in Huila as a coffee buyer is like being a kid in an amusement park. There are endless varietals and everyone you meet instantly becomes your new friend. We’ve been visiting the area for years now and Cuatro Vientos has been gracious hosts each visit. I’m already counting down to my next visit to meet with more producers and discover new coffees. Until then, I recommend you check out some of our stellar offerings from Huila, Colombia. If you have questions on availability, contact one of our traders.