Siempre Verde Farm, Ramiro Alejandro Granda Loza - Ecuador 2021

We are a coffee-producing family in Pichincha, Ecuador, striving to produce high-quality specialty coffee and to build positive and meaningful relationships with people in all areas of the industry. Our farm is located about an hour and a half north of “the middle of the world” (the equator), near the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve and our coffee is grown in shared lots with native flora and other fruit trees.

Coffee has been in our family for three generations, and currently, second and third generations are working together to continue the legacy. Coffee entered our family around 1965. We produced natural process coffee that was dried on a big cement patio and transported on mule to a nearby farm, where a car would take it to the milling station.

Fast-forward to the year 2015, when we entered the world of specialty coffee as a pilot farm due to an initiative the Ecuadorian government had. We literally knew nothing about specialty coffee, but with good support we arrived at our first harvest in 2018. In 2019, we focused on plant and soil nutrition to better understand coffee. In 2020, we heavily focused on post-harvesting methods to ensure we were developing standardized processes. Now, in 2021, one of our main focuses has been the fermentation. All these combined have allowed us to arrive to where we are at today.

We believe in the importance of recognizing everyone’s work with fair and just compensation, which is why we are intentional about the way we handle employment. Labor laws in Ecuador can be hard to navigate and are constantly changing. Nonetheless, we make the conscious decision to provide full-time employment and consistent schedules, and to take the required steps for our team members to receive healthcare and retirement benefits through the government.