Nery Nelcy Montilla

A little over a year ago, Miguel Vicuña, a member of Sweet Bloom’s green buying team, met Nery Nelcy Montilla when he was sourcing coffee in Colombia. From the beginning, he was impressed with her as a person and as a coffee producer. Her coffee is beautiful and the story of her life is inspiring.

Nery grew up in the community of La Unión, Nariño, Colombia. Her father, a coffee farmer in Nariño, had already instilled in her a love for coffee and knowledge of its production, but she wanted to learn more, and to have her own farm. At the age of 20, in 1999, she left her hometown and began working as a coffee picker in Isnos, Huila. While she worked, she asked as many questions as possible and prepared herself to begin to develop her own farm.

Her opportunity for that came when Nery purchased a seemingly undesirable piece of land in 2009. The farm, now called Finca El Mirador, had only a makeshift house made of bareque (a type of mud bricks). Many believed it was unsuitable for any crop, but Nery saw its potential. That first year she planted coffee trees and began to work and care for the land. She moved there with her two daughters in 2010 and did the work required to produce coffee.

Initially, Nery sold her coffee in the local market as conventional, commercial coffee. However, in 2018, she was introduced to Caravela Coffee, and began selling coffee to them. She says that Caravela pays for the work and quality that goes into the coffee. She started with RTB/A (ready-to-blend) quality and has worked hard to improve quality to AAA status, which is 86+. She reached that quality in 2023, and her coffee really stood out on the cupping table during Miguel’s visit.

Nery’s coffee processing is primarily a traditional washed process. It begins with the careful picking of ripe cherry. Then at the wet mill on the farm, the cherries are floated, the bad ones removed, and the rest are placed in a container for 24 hours before pulping. After this, the coffee is fermented in closed bags for around 72 hours and then subjected to two washes. THe drying phase begins in the shade. Then the coffee is transferred to the main covered drying area, where it takes up to 15 days to reach the desired moisture level.

But there’s more to the story than great coffee. With improved farm practices and increased income, Nery has transformed her life. Her effective management skills allowed her to build a two-story house, while the original house now serves as a place to raise guinea pigs. In 2022, Nery and her husband Lidier acquired a 4×4 truck, making it easier to deliver coffee to the purchasing station in San Agustin. They even purchased a nearby plot of land for their oldest daughter to start her own coffee production.

We love to share the story of emerging producers like Nery Nelcy Montilla. We also love purchasing her coffee and sharing its beauty with you.

Transparency Information

1. Spot Purchase

Early in Sweet Bloom’s history, we worked closely (and still do) with some of the best importers in the US to purchase our coffee. These importers have similar values to Sweet Bloom and a genuine care for those they purchase coffee from. Most of these importers hold “Spot” coffee which means they’ve purchased a given amount of coffee from a specific producer or co-op and import it to their warehouses as inventory. Many of our first coffees were purchased from importers as spot coffee. A few coffees, especially from East Africa, are still purchased this way.

2. Contract Purchase

As Sweet Bloom grows, most of our coffee purchases have transitioned away from spot to contracted. Contractual buying, basically means we commit to purchase a given amount of coffee at an agreed upon price, from a specific producer or co-op, before the coffee leaves the country of origin. Contracted coffee is the beginning of what we view as a relationship coffee. These purchases still rely heavily on importers, but there is sustainability built in as we show a level of commitment to a given lot, and the importer can make a more confident purchase from the producer.

3. Repeat Purchase

During Sweet Bloom’s second year as a roastery, we began to purchase lots again, from producers we bought from in our first year. We view a repeat purchase from a given producer or co-op as a significant step towards building an ongoing relationship. The bulk of coffee we purchase now from Central and South America are at a minimum, second time purchases. For example, 50% of our Hometown Blend comes from two growing groups (Timana, and Los Naranjos in Colombia). We rotate seasonal lots from these two groups, and have been doing this for many years. The Timana and Naranjos groups can be confident that we’ll continue to purchase large quantities from them every year. They can rely on our repeat purchases, and we can plan on getting great coffee.

4. Visits

As we’ve stated from the beginning, the heart of Sweet Bloom is to connect, in meaningful ways, the producer with the end consumer. Our dream from the beginning was to invite the producers we do business with to Sweet Bloom, and we’ve had the privilege to host a number of producers over the years. These visits have been a special time for the producer to share their story with our retail and wholesale customers, and to experience their coffee being brewed and sold in some of the best cafes in Denver. These visits have also been deeply meaningful to our staff, and our customers who can now put a face to the name on our bags. Sweet Bloom is also committed to visiting the producers we work with and will be increasing these efforts in the years to come as our team grows.

5. Payment & Ongoing Projects

Ultimately, our intention is to build on our relationships with producers that go beyond visits, in ways that are mutually beneficial. One project that we are proud of and will continue to replicate is pre-paying for our coffee. This allows the producer to have access to funds at a time when there is a large outflow of cash to pay pickers and increased expenses due to processing.

6. Intentional Purchase

Building genuine relationships with producers is hard. With each harvest, changing markets, competition from other buyers etc, the best of intentions can sometimes turn into what feels like failure. It can be messy and disappointing. At times, we’ve let down producers that we work with, and at other times, we’ve been let down. But we’ve also built relationships that are deeply meaningful, mutually rewarding and long lasting, and we will continue to work towards that end!

For us, a relationship that falls into this final category means we've worked together with this producer for many years. We've visited them, they've visited us, and we've built a relationship that goes beyond a financial transaction. We have an understanding of:

1) challenges faced from one year to the next
2) sustainability practices on the farm
3) how the farmer is caring for their staff
4) ways in which we can benefit projects the farmers have implemented on the farm and in the community

We also consider this stage as a stepping stone into the future of how we purchase coffee and build relationship. We are working on a green buying strategy where we set prices directly with producers that far exceed Fair-trade prices and meets our understanding of a living wage for the producer and those working under them.

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Meet the Producer:

Nery Nelcy Montilla

Transparency Information