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Origin: Venezuela, Trujillo
Producer: Víctor Montilla
Farm: El Linaje
Altitude: 1550 masl
Variety: Villanueva
Process: Honey
About the producer
In the mountainous valley of Boconó, in the state of Trujillo, Víctor Montilla grows coffee on land inherited from his grandfather. His work is spread across small family farms: El Caotal, El Linaje, Mi Querencia and La Victoria, for a total of just four hectares. These plots are the result of generations of care, knowledge and a deep connection to Venezuelan agricultural identity.
Víctor represents a rare and precious reality in today’s specialty coffee world: a small-scale Venezuelan producer committed to quality, biodiversity and the preservation of local varieties. His work contributes to keeping Venezuela alive on the specialty coffee map, an origin still underrepresented despite its extraordinary potential.
His dedication was nationally recognised at EICEV 2023 (Encuentro Internacional de Cafés de Especialidad Venezolano), where he earned a prestigious award with a 100% Venezuelan Monte Claro lot scoring 90.11 points, confirming Boconó as one of the most promising regions in the country.
About agroforestry, variety and processing
Víctor’s farms are a clear example of true agroforestry. There is no monoculture: coffee grows alongside banana and plantain trees, fruit trees and native shade species, creating a biodiverse Andean ecosystem. This natural balance improves soil health, water retention and long-term resilience, while preserving the surrounding environment.
All cultivation is chemical-free, relying instead on traditional soil-preserving practices and meticulous hand-picking. During harvest, some trees are visited up to thirty-five times, ensuring that only perfectly ripe cherries are selected.
This coffee is a Villanueva variety, grown at 1,550 meters above sea level. Villanueva originates from the state of Lara and is a natural mutation of Colombia 23 and Colombia 26. (two rust-resistant red cherry Arabica varieties developed by Cenicafé). This mutation transformed the cherry colour from red to yellow and revealed a variety that thrives in moist soils with abundant water. In the cup, Villanueva expresses its full potential when processed as honey or natural, developing far more complexity than with washed processing.
For this lot, Víctor chose a honey process. First cherries are fermented in anaerobic environment for 48h, then depulped and fermented again for 48h with their own mosto. Following is a 25 days drying time.
We think it tastes like grape, hibiscus, cherry.
