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.
Argemiro Hernandez of La Esperanza farm is one of Elias and Shady’s partners. He cultivates exotic varieties like Geisha, Wush Wush, and Java in his farm, which is located on the Conbeima Canyon, near Tolima’s capital Ibague. He is focused on producing nano-lots for every variety. In consultation with the Bayter brothers, he has assimilated alternative processing techniques into his protocols resulting in differentiated cup profiles. During the Ibague Cafe Festival in November 2022, his Wush Wush 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.