Ernedis Rodriguez owns and operates finca El Paraiso in Gigante, Huila. We had the pleasure of spending a few days with Ernedis in November. His farm, truly is paradise. Planted with Caturra, Castillo, Sidra, Mejorado, Java, and Pacamara, the street thats runs beside the farm is lined with eucalyptus and while we were there, the hills were blanketed in mist. We were extremely impressed with his farm, the attention to detail and care he puts into every phase of production. The coffee trees are carefully maintained, he has a nursery where he grows new varieties, and his fermentation tanks are are kept clean between batches. Ernedis continually pushes the bounds of quality, experimenting with adding yeasts to certain fermentations, upgrading his processing infrastructure and planting exotic varieties. His continual efforts have paid dividends and he has been able sell his coffee at elevated prices year over year. After years of sorting cherry manually, he has installed equipment in his wet-mill that auto-floats and sorts cherry prior to de-pulping. He also puts work into minimizing the environmental impact of his farm. He has invested in an eco-washer that lets him drastically lower the amount of water used in processing his coffee. He has also placed plants that naturally filter contaminants out of the water leftover from the fermentation tank. On top of all that, he has set-up a three step process for composting cherry pulp.