El Vendaval

Farmlevel Story

The Calderon family is a longtime Verve partner and major producer spearheaded by grandfather Ricardo Calderon. They built their formidable Los Angeles micro-mill—among the original Micro-mill Revolutionaries in the early 2000s—after leaving the Coopedota cooperative. Before the Micro-mill Revolution, farmers would deliver cherries to a centralized mill like Coopedota. By establishing their private micro-mills, farmers could take control of processing and marketing their coffees and direct relationships with buyers for the first time.

The Calderon Family calls the beautiful town of Santa María in Dota, Tarrazú, home, where they have an excellent infrastructure of farms. El Vendaval, one of their largest farms, sits high atop the peaks of Tarrazú with bursting trees of bright Red Catuai. These trees grow on steep hillsides, allowing for incredible soil complexity and plenty of sunlight for ample nutrition.

Endless peaks and valleys in the Cordillera de Talamanca’s central area fill the landscape of Tarrazú. The mountain slopes are treacherous, but the final product is well worth the trouble as Tarrazú is widely considered one of the best places on earth to grow coffee.