Wilfredo Ule Vargas has owned and operated Finca Alcatraz for more than 15 years. On his 7 hectare farm, you’ll find mostly Caturra trees, alongside micro-lots of Geisha, Pink and Red Bourbon, and Typica. Throughout the coffee fields, there is an abundance of shade-giving trees, such as walnut, citrus, and guamo. With his mindful and attentive cultivation practices, he’s earned many awards for his coffee over the years, including 19th place in the 2019 Cup of Excellence. The beautiful terroir is summarized so nicely in his often washed coffees, each one brilliantly as brilliantly expressive as the last.
He’s also quite the talented carpenter, having built a tree-house cabin that is nothing if not a luxury to be in. The steep terrain of his land lends itself to both the name of the farm and the views one might find there. He applies his innovative outlook to his farming practices as well, having developed a tube system to deliver cherries down the mountainside to the wet mill during harvest, and powering up to 40% of his operation with solar energy.
LULO has been working with Don Wilfredo since we opened in 2020, but he’s hosted us and helped in our neverending quest for coffee knowledge since 2017.
