Resguardo Indígena de Yaquivá is a legally recognized indigenous territory in Inzá, Tierradentro, Cauca — home to the archaeological park UNESCO named a World Heritage Site in 1995.
Verifiable through Colombian government records, not through us.
ACT 01 / The Break
Samuel spent four years running Asociación Juan Tama, an indigenous coffee cooperative — calling international buyers in English before he was sure it would work, sending samples with no guarantee. It grew into a nine-person team and Colombia’s first organic container to Germany.
Then a multinational buyer quietly rewrote the contract, stripping the clauses that protected producers — and demanded the old, lower price the moment a drought spiked the market. Samuel fought it in court. And won.
ACT 02 / Rebirth without capital
He planned to do consulting next — coffee didn’t seem possible without capital. Then thirty producers showed up at his and Sofía’s door, asking to build something together anyway.
No capital, no company — just the coffee. They mixed samples from each farm into one offer and went looking for a buyer with nothing behind it but that. Katie Carguilo, from Counter Culture Coffee, took the bet on their first container.
That’s how La Orquídea y el Oso started. Not with a brand. With a knock on a door.
The second year’s quality slip severed a foundational relationship, teaching Samuel a hard lesson about financial capacity. Refusing to give up, he cold-messaged Angel at Belco Sourcing. Recognizing their potential, Belco stepped in with the necessary backing, transforming that pivot into a thriving partnership moving multiple containers a year on a foundation of trust and sustainability.
The Certified Origin Program, the traceability tool, the standard that doesn’t bend — none of it started as a marketing plan.