The Ventura family have been growing coffee for over five generations. The coffee farming tradition began when their grandfather started growing coffee in 1894, at a farm called Finca Rabanales. Over a hundred years later, the family purchased Finca El Durazno in 2012.

Rafael & Maria Elena are two of the five proprietors of the farm, and are active in its management. When they started in 2012, Finca El Durazno did not have a single coffee plant - in fact the land was mainly used for forestry. Although the Ventura family have been coffee farming for over 120 years, the farm is very young as coffee was planted during the 2013-2014 harvest.

2018 was the farm’s first normal production harvest. The changing climate proved challenging, with the stress of the plants resulting in a lower yield. It rained a lot, which also led to more fungus and leaf rust. The main challenge for the season was to pick coffee at it’s optimal Brix level.

Rafael says, the difference he noticed at Finca El Durazno compared to the other family farms, is that he had to forget everything he knew about coffee and start fresh. He loves about coffee that is that there is always something to learn.