Commitment to the environment

The environment is an essential part within the Santa Eduviges Group. For a few years now, they have been working with long term strategies that will contribute to conserving the soil, our most precious natural resource. This is achieved by applying corrective modifications to reduce the acidity of our volcanic soils and to make mineral elements available that otherwise could not be absorbed by the coffee plant.

Adequate levels are maintained of the quantity of organic matter in the soil by planting in accordance with the shape of the slopes of our plantations, with the management of cover and the incorporation of coffee scrubs, treated with Californian earthworms and chicken droppings; this is a mixture that enriches the microbe populations that divide the minerals in the soil in such a way that they can be assimilated by the plant.

Also, by managing leguminous plants for shade, such as araquis in areas where the sun shines more than the average five hours a day, optimal temperatures are kept for the development of the fruit, in such a way that the process is slow and that the plant does not have to make accelerated metabolisms that would lead to a reduction of the quality of the drink. In higher altitude areas the clouds take care of providing natural shade where the plants are constantly exposed to the sun.

Only those varieties are used that have demonstrated to possess a high quality beverage and very good adaptation to the climatic conditions in the area, and these come from SAN POL certified seeds that come from our own  plantations.

Our plantations are made up of plants that are up to 20 years old; or every year 5% of the plants is renewed and 12.5% of the total area of the plantation is pruned. This ensures that there is always young growth that responds very well to pruning, that has an optimal absorbance of fertilizers, that tolerates the attacks of plagues and diseases better and therefore achieve harvest performances that don’t vary more than 10% each year.

The needs and quantities of fertilizers are calculated based on the results of the yearly annual chemical analyses of the soil and the foliage, according to the variety and the fullness of the fruit at the time of the application. We also depend on the use of fungus, bacteria and insects that work as biological controllers of the main plagues and diseases of the plantation.

The human resources that the Santa Eduviges Group has, with adequate working and social conditions for the development of their families, turns our company into an integrated system of persons and resources that try to increase, day by day, the quality of all of the necessary process to obtain the Café Tres Generaciones beverage. We herewith not only make sure that we maintain the same quality of the beverage, but that we rather improve it with the continuous perfection of all our processes and consumables.