Daniel Muñoz
Smallholder Spotlight
Daniel is a unique figure in coffee in San Agustin, coming from a slightly different background than many of the growers Semilla works with. Though coffee farming was a part of his history, the primary crop his family grew was, and continues to be, sugar cane.
As Daniel came of age, he created opportunities off the farm for his family by developing a panela factory, where would take the raw product produced by his family farm and turn it into the incredibly popular Colombian snack, which he sold in San Agustin. For years, he ran this factory in conjunction with a hardware store in San Agustin before becoming enamored with coffee and the potential it held.
He bought Villa Camila for the purpose of growing high grade specialty coffee, and his farm is explicitly committed to Pink Bourbon and Gesha. His first foray into the specialty market came via the Los Naranjos association. He became began to sell his Pink Bourbons as part of their blended lots, and has done so for the last decade. In the last three years, the standalone quality of his micro-lots has been noticed, and he has amassed some very well-known clients in Europe who consistently purchase small amounts of his excellent coffees.
Aware already of the quality of his coffee, what struck us the most was his keen interest in improving his knowledge of coffee. In our last that visit, we were able to cup together coffees from our relationship projects in Rwanda, Honduras, and Guatemala.