Back in 1870, Fabio Morán and Etifanio Silva decided to conquer this hostile territory, sowing coffee trees in one of the highest summits of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range. They named Siberia, the 28 hectares of land, for its chaotic weather conditions, along with its difficult accessibility. One century later, Rafael Silva, brother of Luis Silva, inherited the property and won 4th place in this COE edition.

“I knew this was going to be challenge because it is difficult land to harvest”, explained Rafael, a fourth generation of coffee growers from this area.

Rafael considers himself lucky because he has never had any problems working the plantation, which is a mix of 75% of Bourbon and 25% of Pacamara.

His ecological awareness has allowed him to put in place innovative ways to produce organic matter for fertilization. He purchased a massive production of earthworms to process the coffee pulp to create “lombricompost” that he uses to fertilize the trees. The farm has colonial practices to take care of the soils. It has natural wind and erosion barriers, and each year they are use less chemicals fertilizers.

During the harvest period, they employ 24 workers, and most of the year Rafael helps resolve the social issues that affect the daily life of the workers in the Cantón.