Producer Spotlight Series: Andres Martinez

He Left a Lab Job to Grow Coffee 

It's a fair question, and one most coffee bags never actually answer: why would someone trained in a completely different, more stable field choose to become a farmer instead?

It's not the obvious path. A biochemical engineering career comes with predictable outcomes — controlled variables, repeatable results. Coffee farming is the opposite of that. Weather doesn't run controlled trials. A fermentation that worked perfectly last season can behave differently this one. So when someone leaves a lab for a farm, and then chooses to grow some of the hardest, least forgiving varietals available on top of it, it's worth understanding why.

From El Paraíso to El Sendero

Andrés Martínez trained as a biochemical engineer before working at El Paraiso, one of Colombia's better-known specialty coffee farms, alongside producer Diego Bermúdez. That experience gave him a front-row seat to what serious varietal and process experimentation actually looks like at a high level — and eventually, the confidence to start his own operation.

Today Andrés runs El Sendero, spread across two properties in Cauca. Instead of sticking to reliable, high-yield varietals, he grows Geisha, Chiroso, Papayo, Bourbon Rosado, and Sidra — coffee plants that are, across the board, more delicate, lower-yielding, and less forgiving than standard commercial varietals. It's a harder way to farm. It's also the only way to grow some of the most sought-after flavor profiles in specialty coffee.

What the Process Actually Involves

His Caturra Floral lot goes through a 48-hour whole-cherry fermentation, followed by another 24 hours after depulping — 72 hours total of controlled, deliberate fermentation time. That's not a shortcut anyone takes by accident. It's a specific, engineered decision about how long to let natural yeasts and bacteria work on the coffee before drying locks the flavor profile in place.

The result in the cup: honey sweetness, mandarin, caramel underneath. It's the kind of profile that reads less like "coffee" and more like something a chemist built on purpose — because, in a sense, it was.

We buy directly from Andrés and his preferred importer, Unblended, and stay in touch as he continues expanding into new varietals. If you've ever wondered what happens when someone brings lab-grade patience to a coffee farm, this is what it tastes like.

Shop Andrés Martínez's Caturra Floral →   https://haikubrew.com/products/caturra-floral-by-andres-martinez-copy?_pos=1&_psq=caturra&_psid=d574c493d&_ss=e