Our Story · Hacienda Las Mercedes
Green Hills Coffee: Colombian Specialty Coffee
We are a coffee-growing family from Ciudad Bolívar, Antioquia. Four generations cultivating specialty coffee on the same mountain, now also processing, hulling, and roasting it ourselves. Without intermediaries.
4th
Coffee-growing generation
1.700
Meters above sea level
85+
SCA points
100%
Vertical integration
Grown at 1,700 meters above sea level.
100% vertical integration
Sustainable farming and fair trade
Coffee 85+ SCA points
We produce excellent coffee
Four generations cultivating the same mountain
On the slopes of southwestern Antioquia, in Ciudad Bolívar, our family has been cultivating coffee for four generations. What began as a traditional farm transformed into a vertically integrated operation: today, we plant, harvest, process, mill, and roast every bean on the same land where it originated.
Our constant concern for the well-being of those who work with us and for the conservation of the ecosystem is in the DNA of Green Hills Coffee. Every stage of the process—from the seed to the bag that arrives at your home—is carried out with social and environmental responsibility and fair and friendly working conditions.
When you buy a bag of Green Hills Coffee, you're buying coffee that never went through intermediaries.
From tree to roast, with no one else touching the bean.
GH
Green Hills Family
4th generation · Ciudad Bolívar, Antioquia
Our commitments
Coffee that respects people and the mountains
Producing excellent coffee isn’t just about the bean. It’s about how it’s grown, who grows it, and what we leave in the ground for generations to come.
Fair and dignified work
Fair working conditions and a friendly environment for every team member. Coffee quality starts with the well-being of those who grow it.
Sustainable agricultural practices
Organic fertilizers made from coffee pulp, biofertilizers, and natural foliar nutrition. Zero synthetic chemicals that harm soil or water.
Shade-grown
Coffee grown under a canopy of native trees that regulate temperature, protect biodiversity, and improve the bean's sensory complexity.
Responsible water management
Beneficiation systems that reduce water consumption and reuse process by-products as fertilizer for crops.
Community involvement
Direct support for coffee-growing families in Ciudad Bolívar and contributions to the development of the region where we were born and raised.
Ecosystem conservation
We protect the water sources, native forests, and local wildlife in the mountains surrounding Hacienda Las Mercedes.
Where altitude defines flavor
Ciudad Bolívar, Antioquia. Volcanic soils rich in minerals, stable temperature, and the right altitude for the bean to mature slowly and develop the sensory profile that leads to 85+ SCA points.
The Essence of Specialty Coffee
What's behind every bag of Green Hills
What exactly is specialty coffee?
Specialty coffee is coffee that scores 80 points or more in the official cupping, as evaluated by cuppers certified by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). To achieve this rating, the bean is grown under specific conditions—altitude, shade, soil, varietal—that allow for the development of complex and clean flavor profiles. It is not a commercial name; it is a category measured by an international protocol.
Why does scoring matter in tasting?
Cupping is the critical process that separates specialty coffee from commercial coffee. Professional cuppers use a standardized system to evaluate fragrance, aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, sweetness, uniformity, clean cup, and defects. Each attribute receives a score that is added to reach the final score. At Green Hills Coffee, we cup every lot before it leaves the farm: ours consistently score between 85 and 87 points.
How is it different from regular coffee?
In three things: quality, process, and origin. Common coffee is blended, bought in bulk, and you rarely know which farm it came from. Specialty coffee is traceable—you know the farm, varietal, altitude, processing method, and roast date. In addition, the care taken at each stage (selective harvesting, controlled processing, profiled roasting) is what makes it possible to perceive notes that a commercial coffee would never express.
What does vertical integration mean?
It means we control every step of the process, without intermediaries. We plant the coffee at Hacienda Las Mercedes, hand-harvest it, process it at our facilities (washed, honey, or natural), hull it, roast it in our own roaster, and package it to send directly to your home. No third party touches the bean. That's what allows us to maintain quality, traceability, and a fair price for everyone involved.
From tree to roast
A single team takes care of every step of the process
1
Planting and care
Shade cultivation with organic fertilizers and crop rotation
2
Selective harvesting
Manual harvesting, only perfectly ripe cherries
3
Benefit on farm
Three signature processes: washed, honey, and natural
4
Threshing and rest
On-farm parchment storage and controlled threshing
5
House roast
Profiling of each batch in our electric roaster
6
To your cup
Packed fresh and shipped direct, no intermediaries
Taste what we harvest
The coffees we roast for you
Three distinct processing methods, all from the same origin: Hacienda Las Mercedes, Ciudad Bolívar.
