The first coffee we ever purchased from La Pradera was the Mokka varietal, which we went on to win a Good Food Award with! La Pradera is a family owned and operated farm. There are currently four generations of Daza family members directly involved in the farming, processing, and exporting of their specialty coffee.
Mr. Héctor Daza originally began transforming the family farm into a coffee paradise by planting diverse timber and fruit trees, creating a shade canopy for the different varieties of coffee they would grow. This was the beginning of a lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship. The farm now includes anaco, bucaro, guamo, oak, avocado, tangerine, banana, and many other tree varieties, providing plenty of shade to the crop. Oscar Daza, third generation, now assumes leadership of La Pradera. The focus remains on sustainable land use, organic practices, and respect for the farm and the natural world that it inhabits.
The farm is situated near the Chicamocha Canyon—the second largest canyon in the world. The canyon creates a unique and favorable microclimate for coffee production, with warm air currents during the day and cool breezes and rainfall at night.
Today, the La Pradera family farm is joined by 8 other farms, a QC lab, and wet and dry mills as part of the La Pradera coffee company. The quality control laboratory houses a team of certified professionals headed up by Luis Alfredo Archila. The wet mill and dry mill include state-of-the-art equipment, including an eco-washer, a pre-drying deck, and both solar and mechanical dryers. In total, Hacienda La Pradera employs 15 permanent employees and 172 seasonal employees, including 30 women—22 of whom operate the Manos de Mujer certified Finca Santa Maria.
