Brothers Elias and Shady Bayter implement coffee development projects focused on empowering smallholder farmers in their home department, Tolima, with updated knowledge to diversify the flavor profiles their coffees can offer. This leads to an increase in their crops' quality and market value. They also proactively connect with international specialty coffee roasters to match their own and their partners' coffees with the appropriate consumers. Through these connections, they enable the two ends of the coffee value chain to get the fullest benefit.
Milton Monroy of Finca San Cayetano is one of Elias and Shady’s partners. His farm is reputed for its cultivation practices and is one of the most well-known in the San Juan de la China area. He started his coffee journey with his father and honed his coffee knowledge by working with common varieties like Caturra and Castillo for several years. They later heard of Geisha and, after cupping the variety for the first time, decided to dedicate 25% of their land to it. He considers this the best decision they have made and has not ceased in efforts to elevate the quality of the Geisha their farm produces. He has mastered this craft to the extent that they have made the ranks of COE in Colombia, and during the last Ibague Cafe Festival in November 2022, his Geisha micro-lot qualified him as one of the ten top producers in Tolima.
The Exporter
Forest Coffee is a platform established by Elias and Shady Bayter for their local farming communities to share best practices, and for their coffee to gain world recognition and better benefit from the international market. They celebrate the time-honored Colombian tradition of producing high-quality coffee by fusing legacy knowledge with innovative techniques.