We are thrilled to announce that our second single-origin Colombian coffee has arrived! Meet La Sierra Sunrise, a light roast, anaerobically fermented coffee from the slopes of La Sierra, a neighborhood on the outskirts of one of Colombia’s largest cities - Medellín. La Sierra Sunrise is the product of Proyecto Renacer (Spanish for Project Reborn), an initiative started by brothers Johnattan and Cristian Raigosa to transform the lives of the people of La Sierra through coffee. That is why we have decided to call this special offering La Sierra Sunrise: this coffee is the result of a new day dawning for the community of La Sierra. We recently spoke with Proyecto Renacer’s co-founder Johnattan Raigosa to offer you an inside look at how specialty coffee is transforming this urban enclave.
History of La Sierra
Map showing the location of Barrio La Sierra on the eastern slopes of Medellín.
First, to fully understand the impact of Proyecto Renacer, you must understand the history of La Sierra. La Sierra is a small neighborhood with an outsized reputation. Situated at about 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) on one of the eastern mountainsides surrounding Medellín, La Sierra was once considered one of the most dangerous barrios (neighborhoods) in Colombia and the world. Marxist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries turned the barrio into a battle zone, each vying for control. La Sierra was especially susceptible to this violence because, for many years, there was only one road leading in and out of the barrio. In 2005, a documentary was made by two intrepid journalists, chronicling the tragically short lives of young people in La Sierra. You can find it on YouTube here.
Today, however, thanks to the resiliency of its people and the altitude of its mountain geography, La Sierra has become a hub of urban coffee production. There are many issues yet to be overcome in the neighborhood, but La Sierra is a far cry from the war-torn enclave it once was. So how did this infamous barrio turn into a hidden gem of specialty coffee production?
While La Sierra is an urban neighborhood, most of its residents are not originally from the vast metropolis of Medellín. Many were originally farmers in rural villages who were displaced by the guerrilla warfare that also came to plague La Sierra, something that Johnattan mentioned as a tragic paradox in our interview. Despite the harsh reality, families in La Sierra did not give up hope for a peaceful future and did not lose their agrarian roots. On small plots of land (2 hectares on average), former farmers in La Sierra took advantage of its high elevation to return to their heritage as coffee growers to survive. In 2016, the Colombian government reached a peace accord with the FARC (a Marxist guerrilla group), and Medellín extended its metro cable system up to La Sierra. Both of these developments led to vast improvements in connectivity and quality of life for residents in La Sierra, and its coffee farmers began to sell their produce beyond the neighborhood.
Proyecto Renacer
Brothers Johnattan and Cristian Raigosa stand over a manual de-pulper machine ridding coffee beans of their cascara, or cherry shell.
It was also in 2016 that Johnattan and Cristian Raigosa were sent a coffee sample from La Sierra. Johnattan and Cristian were running a café/bar in the town of Caldas, Antioquia named Rituales (Rituals). Johnattan recalls that he and his brother were initially trepidatious about buying coffee from or visiting La Sierra due to its reputation; however, when they tried coffee from producer Don Gabriel Cortés, its quality impressed them so much that they decided to put their fears aside and check out this curious coffee operation.
When the brothers first traveled to La Sierra, they discovered that it was not just Don Gabriel, but many families who cultivated and lived off of coffee. Operations in the neighborhood were rustic, and the farmers struggled to earn a fair price for their coffee. As Johnattan described to us, most of the coffee-purchasing cooperatives sought to buy coffee that was already de-pulped and processed, which required each small farm to purchase a de-pulper and drying bed, minimum. The farmers in La Sierra simply did not have the resources to buy the equipment necessary to complete these processes. Jonathan and Cristian connected with the farmers in the neighborhood and wanted to help, so they decided to buy the coffee still in the cherry at a premium from the farmers and process the coffee themselves. Thus, Proyecto Renacer was born.
Proyecto Renacer, meaning Project Reborn, started by buying coffee from one farm in La Sierra and quickly grew to an operation that supported 38 families. Despite the enthusiasm of La Sierra’s coffee farmers, the Project was not without difficulties. While Johnattan says that the neighborhood is way safer than it was even 3 to 4 years ago, it is a tense peace that has settled over the territory. Johnattan told us that what has made the difference and led to peace is that now there is only one group controlling the area rather than multiple battling it out.
Johnattan and Cristian stand amongst coffee drying beds at their processing center in La Sierra along with a farmer.
Because of this, Proyecto Renacer had to ask for permission to buy and process coffee in La Sierra, something that Johnattan said was only possible with the help of local producers. One story in particular that Johnattan shared with us was of Yesid, a young man who came from a family of six brothers, half of which were in some way involved with local gangs. Yesid, however, sought a different path for himself and his children and connected with Proyecto Renacer to sell his coffee.
Johnattan describes how Yesid was indispensable in helping Proyecto Renacer gain trust with the local powers that be. When they arrived 7 years ago, one of Yesid's brothers acted as the channel to reach the higher-ups to get the permission they needed to run Proyecto Renacer in La Sierra. Today, seven years later, Proyecto Renacer still works with Yesid and has even put him in charge of their coffee processing center in La Sierra. Proyecto Renacer was also able to provide job opportunities to Yesid's wife, Amalia, and his brother Jaír. Johnattan described their work with Yesid's family:
“I think it's a quite pleasant, quite beautiful story because it's a family that has helped us a lot, has supported us a lot, that we…have also tried to help them as much as we could. And it's good that they are moving forward.”
Johnattan also described another young man whom Proyecto Renacer was able to help:
“Another case, is a young boy who came to us at 17 years old, asking if we had any small job for him. So, we decided to hire him on a day-by-day basis, and we have been working with him for two years now. He is now 19 years old, very diligent, and works with us all the time. That's another story that makes us very happy because it's a kid who probably would have taken a different path and gone in other directions, and knowing that we pulled one more boy, one more youth, away from these gangs and drug trafficking and all this violence, it fills us with a lot of pride because... It's not only about the coffee business for us, really. We aim to make an impact on as many people as we can.”
Specialty Processing Protocol
Coffee beans in a de-pulped mucilage (honey) state process in a fermentation barrel.
While creating a social impact in La Sierra, Proyecto Renacer also turned the rustic blend of coffee varietals grown by local farmers into quality specialty coffee through fermentation protocols that the Raigosa brothers developed at their processing center. The brothers began with their understanding of how bacteria and microorganisms work to transform the flavors of coffee. From there, they began to experiment using different fermentation processes on different coffee lots to see which worked best for which. Johnattan described to us how one of their fermentation processes, a double fermentation called Redbomb, worked well with producer Don Raúl’s coffee, however, they developed the Verano Tropical (Tropical Summer) process, which is used for La Sierra Sunrise, with other producers:
“It's an extended lactic fermentation that with other producers like Jesse Guzman, Don Pedro Quintero, Don Alfonso Kendo, who have varietals on their farm that are caturras, those yellow notes, that creamy body, were greatly enhanced. So, we said, the coffees from those producers will be processed with the 170-hour fermentation protocol, which we call Tropical Summer.”
The unique fermentation process that Johnattan and Cristian developed for the coffees of La Sierra makes them truly special. La Sierra Sunrise has distinct notes of yellow fruits, hazelnut, and cacao thanks to its 170-hour lactic fermentation. This process is time-consuming, but the result is well worth it. La Sierra Sunrise has a delicious, light body with a unique hint of fruitiness, all without losing the classic body of a Colombian single origin. (Buy a bag here!).
Encantado Coffee’s Impact and Commitment
Two bags of our La Sierra Sunrise Coffee lie next to a coffee pot and cup.
We are incredibly proud to offer you La Sierra Sunrise. The amount of dedication and passion that goes into each coffee bean from Proyecto Renacer is truly astounding. Not to mention, it’s an excellent coffee. At Encantado Coffee, our mission is to bring you the story, the WHOLE story, behind your coffee beans. We source our coffee from producers like Proyecto Renacer because we believe that coffee is more than a beverage, more than just a hit of caffeine: we believe that coffee is a treasured ritual that should be savored and appreciated for each step of its complex supply chain.
As Johnattan told us: “It's because of people like you, people who believe in the value of coffee and who aim and bet on continuing to take this to different parts of the world, that we are still standing here and that we continue doing the work we do for people who understand that coffee involves a lot of work, that coffee is not just a simple drink, but that behind coffee there's so much more.”
So thank YOU. You make Proyecto Renacer possible through your support of the fruits of their labor. You can buy a bag of La Sierra Sunrise here.