Luis’s progressive approach to specialty coffee extends beyond the farm. He also participates in the Manos Al Grano project, a non-profit organization that puts the most exposed workers in the coffee supply chain (the pickers) on a salary and provides them benefits along with training for this crucial task.

Luis Alberto carries out the harvest on his five-hectare farm with the help of his wife, Floridalid, their sons and a few local pickers. They carefully hand-select only the ripest cherries. Unlike most traditional Colombian coffee producers, who typically de-pulp their coffees and let them ferment overnight for 12 to 18 hours, Luis harvests on Mondays, de-pulps the coffee at night and leaves it in the fermentation tanks. Rather than washing it on Tuesday morning, he de-pulps on Tuesday afternoon and adds any new beans that have been harvested that day to the pile of coffee that's been fermenting since Monday. He thoroughly mixes the two days' coffees together and waits until Wednesday morning to wash the whole lot before taking it out to dry on raised parabolic beds. An incredibly unique style that we’ve never seen before!