We are delighted to present this coffee as part of a selection purchased during our trip to Colombia, where we visited the women contributing to the Condor Huila Project. Created by Martha Bayter, one of the founders of Forest, the project is dedicated exclusively to coffees produced by women in the Huila region. Through this initiative, Forest provides farming education, tools, and resources, while also opening access to markets that may otherwise be out of reach.

A central part of the project each year is a graduation event, where buyers from around the world gather to taste microlots prepared by the producers. After calibrating together, the group scores and ranks the coffees before participating in a live auction. The experience is especially meaningful, with many of the producers present in the room, hearing direct feedback and results from the cupping sessions. As the atmosphere builds with music and celebration, the auction begins—often accompanied by the enthusiastic chant of “¡Vale más, vale más!”

We were fortunate to secure several lots during this auction, including this exceptional coffee, and even partnered on one lot with our friends at Slone Coffee in Romania.

The purpose of the auction is to encourage producers to take risks—whether by experimenting with new varieties or exploring innovative processing methods—and to create a pathway for those risks to be recognized, rewarded, and fairly compensated.

This particular lot was part of the silent auction. We paid $6.50 per pound green directly to Raquel Trujillo. Investments like these reflect our commitment to supporting women of color in coffee who are pushing boundaries and producing truly outstanding coffees.

About Raquel:

We met Raquel Trujillo through her coffee first, then at a lunch where Director of Retail formed a quick bond with her.

From Oporapa, Huila—a place where coffee is not just grown, but deeply lived—Raquel tends to Finca San Isidro with a steady kind of care. The kind that doesn’t rush. The kind that returns, day after day, to the same work with intention. Her approach is rooted in discipline and curiosity, holding tradition alongside a quiet drive to keep refining what’s possible.

This year marked her first time participating in the Cóndor Huila auction and made it into the top 17 scored coffees out of 30+ coffees we cupped.

There is something meaningful about that threshold—the moment when a producer steps into a new space, offering their work to be tasted, witnessed, and valued on a broader stage. It speaks to the years that come before it: the unseen harvests, the incremental improvements, the belief that the work can carry further.

Raquel’s coffee feels like a reflection of that journey. Clear. Deliberate. Built with care at every step.

At Finca San Isidro, cherries are selectively hand-harvested at peak ripeness, then floated to remove defects. They are depulped the same day, leaving the mucilage intact, before undergoing a traditional 24–36 hour fermentation. The coffee is then washed clean and slowly dried over 10–15 days on raised beds or patios, with constant movement to ensure even drying. Afterward, it rests in parchment—time given for the coffee to stabilize and settle before milling.

We think about the way coffees like this come into the world—not all at once, but through repetition, attention, and trust in process.

Raquel is part of a generation of producers shaping that future in real time. Not separate from tradition, but in conversation with it. Building something steady, something lasting.

And we’re grateful to share in that unfolding.

Bags are 12 oz, 2# and 5#