In Betulia, a town in Southwestern Antioquia Department, Colombia, Wilmar Montoya is one of the few farmers who continues to grow the Caturra varietal. Caturra, a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety, has a single-gene mutation that causes the varietal to grow smaller, known as dwarfism—this allows the plants to be placed closer together, enabling them to produce more fruit in the same space. But, this smaller varietal is also delicate; while Caturra once made up nearly half of Colombia’s production, few farmers now are willing or able to grow these plants because of their high susceptibility to diseases such as leaf rust. However, La Loma’s location, at over 2,000 meters above sea level, combined with Wilmar’s dedication allows his Caturra coffee to thrive.

Wilmar lives with his wife, Erika, and two daughters, Valentina and Luciana, at La Loma. He has been working with coffee for about 17 years, and has more recently begun focusing on specialty coffee. We have kept the name, La Loma, for this coffee to honor the hard work that the farmers and producers put into growing high quality, delicious coffee.