6 Yamba Mine, Diana Velez Rodriguez - Ecuador 2021

Taking charge of our history, loving each other and adapting during the process is the bravest thing we can do... that ́s what I call resilience in life. Accepting new beginnings, opening up to changes and letting myself be surprised by opportunities ... and that's when I met coffee to complement my life.
We know how amazing specialty coffee is, the perfect balance of flavors, sweet aroma and “when we taste it in the morning or in the afternoon”. For some coffee growers it ́s our every day, field work , guaranteed fertilizers, preventive fumigations, in short, our illusions, our desire to give the best to the coffee plantations, until reaching excellence itself.
A legacy of love "A good book and a cup of hot coffee please"
Coffee was his passion, my beloved husband, began by visiting the beautiful Farm Chorora in Sozoranga, province of Loja. A place where peace is breathed and nature is the best witness of his dreaming spirit, because that is how he visualized his project with specialty coffee.
That is how "YAMBAMINE" farm was born, which means "Land of Gold", a majestic mountain at 1,700 meters above sea level, which offered the opportunity for a better future, where it was projected to the world with one of the best coffee in height, it opened the doors to cultural and philosophical knowledge, because for René, talking about coffee is combining the very essence of being with the world.
A cup of coffee was to enjoy his thoughts, delight with a best seller, harmonize with the music of yesteryear, a pleasant company and why not, one of his arts is the Coffee Tasting; where in one sip he could distinguish body, aroma, flavor, acidity, variety ... in short, his best moments were enclosed in a sublime sip of coffee.
With God's blessing, he began our project of planting coffee with the variety "Bourbón - Sidra" in December 2015. Full of enthusiasm and to the sound of salsa and meringue, he taught the people of the zone to work with music, so that they feed the soul and enjoy their work, always motivating workers with the idea that Coffee is a way of life, an uprising for many to unite in a simple group, for the passion and cultivation of coffee. The time came and his seeds were ready, without knowing that God had different plans for him.
Loaded with illusions, he entered the operating room and a bad medical practice changed our lives ... He passed away and transcended to another dimension. Today we are the best team of life and eternity working together. The charm of a YAMBAMINE mountain !!
Together with my children, my dear parents and my entire family we began a new stage of life, where the values and the memory of a wonderful human being, was our strength to get up every day and forge our own destiny, evolved and strengthened we return to our mountain to care for and transplant our seedbed. I remember that when looking at the coffee trees, I felt their energy, their desire to be transplanted to give the best of them. Learning from everything, we opened 2km of road from the beautiful Chorora to the charming Yambamine, always hand in hand with my sister Olinka who is my guardian angel, together we managed to continue this great project of Olinka Vélez Coffee.
I would like to share the experience of climbing the mountain, feeling the earth, hearing it ́s voice, that allows us to reach our physical limits and know that at the end we can reach and be surprised by a beautiful “Bourbon Sidra” coffee plantation surrounded by primary forests, illuminated by a resplendent blue sky and a mountainous landscape that can be seen up to eleven hills so that our limit is the mountains of the neighboring country Peru.