Small Colombian Coffee Grower Sells One Pound of Coffee for US$400 at Auction
For Maria Nilsa Garzon Diaz, a small coffee grower from the department of Cauca, it seemed that everything was working against her. Because of a fire, she lost the house where she lived in Rosas, a municipality also permanently affected by natural disasters and disturbances to public order. Despite the adversities, she managed to take […]
Maria Nilsa Garzon Diaz, a small coffee grower from Colombia's Cauca department, made headlines by selling one pound of her coffee for an astonishing US$400 at an international auction. This remarkable feat came after she lost her home to a fire, leaving her with only a sample of her prized coffee to present at the National Federation of Coffee Growers and Corferias fair held in Bogota.
Despite the adversities she faced, Garzon Diaz's participation was made possible by narrowly avoiding a terrorist attack on the Pan-American Highway that connects Cauca to Bogota.
In the international Hybrid Grand Auction, Garzon Diaz's 200-pound lot, labeled under the Fructifero brand, received an impressive 135 bids. The bidding process eventually soared to the record-breaking price of US$400 per pound, according to Julián Ruiz, one of the owners of Banexport, the company that purchased the coffee. Buyers from various countries, including Belgium, Japan, China, South Korea, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Taiwan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Colombia, participated in the bidding frenzy.
The remarkable sale of Garzon Diaz's coffee came just days after the National Federation of Coffee Growers officially introduced a new coffee variety called Celestra. Developed by the National Coffee Research Center (Cenicafe), Celestra is a hybrid of traditional red Caturra and the wild Ethiopian lineage ET42. This innovative variety was showcased at the Ninth National Filtered Coffee Championship, where it won the admiration of the winning barista, Carlos Escobar.
Celestra's unique sensory profile, characterized by bright citrus acidity, a medium creamy body, and a prolonged aftertaste, has been described as exotic within Colombia's coffee offerings. However, its agronomical challenge lies in its susceptibility to coffee leaf rust, a condition that must be carefully managed. Despite this, the introduction of Celestra, coupled with the record-breaking sale of Garzon Diaz's coffee, highlights the growing demand, innovation, and significance of Colombia's coffee industry to the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people.
Written by urgent.news from Colombia One's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
