Welcome to Finca Belen, our idyllic retreat for origin trips with our coffee roaster customers. In addition to coffee production, our estate is home to flourishing oranges, mandarins, and pineapples. Until now, we have exclusively exported our high-quality coffee to the EU, while the other fruits were sold locally in Colombia.
However, we noticed that a significant portion of our pineapples ended up as B- and C-grade produce, with only the A-grade being fairly compensated by local buyers. This led us to seek alternative uses for our pineapple production, specifically exportable products that could be easily stored and transported without spoiling quickly.
Through our connection with an old acquaintance of our founder, Maria, who runs a dried fruit facility, a promising solution emerged. We began producing fruit snacks from our own pineapples. However, the market for fruit snacks is highly competitive, with many products coming from countries with low minimum wages. In Colombia, we cannot compete with many Asian countries in this regard. The Colombian minimum wage is on par with that of Romania, an EU country.
A significantly more exclusive product developed at our dried fruit facility is our fruit infusions. These infusions are a blend of various tropical dried fruits, with our pineapple at the center. It's a fruit tea extract with large fruit pieces that can be enjoyed as a snack or steeped multiple times. Each portion contains 15g of pure, unsulfured dried fruits – 100% pure, 100% natural. This offers a flavorful hot or cold beverage for all tastes, without any added sweeteners, delighting both young and old alike.
After extensive tasting and adjustments in the variety of fruits and piece sizes, the following four creations have emerged:
1. Happiness: Pineapple, banana, passion fruit, mango, and orange
2. Vibrant: Pineapple, ginger, orange, and tree tomato
3. Harmony: Coconut, pineapple, mango, blueberries, and hibiscus
4. Passion: Strawberry, mango, blueberries, and blackberries
All fruits are harvested from the Caribbean to the high Andes of Colombia. These diverse climatic conditions, ranging from beaches to year-round snow-capped mountains over 5,000 meters above sea level, make Colombia one of the most diverse countries in the world.