For the first decade or so of Maruyama Coffee’s history, from 1991 to around 2000, Colombian beans occupied a central role in our operations. Just as tasty in blends with other varieties as they were in single-origin brews, our shipments from Colombia joined Brazilian beans as two of our most integral supply categories. When specialty coffee came front and center on the global stage, though, Colombia lingered in the wings—and with the market changing, Maruyama Coffee eventually stopped buying shipments from the country. We didn’t have to wait too long for Colombia to emerge, however: after Colombian growers started focusing on specialty coffee, the country played host to its first Cup of Excellence (COE) competition in 2005. It was there that Kentaro Maruyama, serving as a COE judge, finally found out what single-origin Colombian coffee was really all about. Balancing the well-rounded versatility that’d always been their calling card with extraordinary individuality and front-line quality, the beans were distinctiveand, as Kentaro could tell with every sip, exquisitely delicious. The grand champion at that inaugural Colombian Cup of Excellence, the event that put Colombian coffee back on the map, was a farm called Los Nogales.

At the post-competition auction, Maruyama Coffee won the bid for the championship beans from Los Nogales. The connection grew from there, flourishing on great beans and personal bonds. You can chalk a lot of that camaraderie up to the farm’s warm, gregarious owner, Ricaurte Hernández, who’d pull Kentaro Maruyama aside at every coffee-industry event they attended and ask for a picture together. Kentaro made his first visit to Los Nogales in 2006, when he saw firsthand just how Hernández had decided to use the farm’simpressive auction winnings after the 2005 Cup of Excellence: he’d built a brand-new house, a sparkling abode to call his own. It might seem a bit lavish, sure, but that’s part of the beauty of the Cup of Excellence—it gives coffee growers a rare chance to reward themselves for their hard work. When Kentaro arrived at Los Nogales, the whole clan was there to welcome him for what seemed to be the beginnings of a long, close relationship between Maruyama Coffee, Ricaurte, and the rest of the Los Nogales family.

And then, out of the blue, Kentaro heard the news. It was 2013. Ricaurte had been killed in a robbery. The attackers, apparently, had been after payments intended for the farm’s coffee pickers. Ricaurte’s family members, especially his wife, were devastated. When Kentaro visited the farm six months later to offer his condolences, she told him she’d even thought about selling the farm—“I can’t even look at the farm without falling apart,” she said. “The memories just come flooding back.” They still had resolve, though. After coming together for numerous meetings, the family eventually decided that they’d try to get the farm up and running again when Ricaurte’s son Óscar, then in the navy, came home. Maruyama Coffee wanted to be part of the recovery effort, too. When Kentaro said that he wanted to buy all the farm’s specialty coffee—knowing that Los Nogales was one of the best farms in Colombia—the family agreed. The relationship pushed forward, forging a new beginning from indescribable despair.

Óscar has done a remarkable job running the farm ever since. A hard worker with a tirelessly inquiring mind, he’s living up to his father’s legacy as both the owner of the farm and even a farming advisor for the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation. The shiny, brand-new house Ricaurte built after the farm’s 2005 COE win doesn’t gleam with its once-flashy luster—it’s part of the everyday landscape now, seamlessly blending into the surroundings. In the garden lies Ricaurte’s gravesite, a fitting resting place where the family’s beloved patriarch can watch over the farm with pride.