Finca San Fernando started in the middle of 2006 with Don Gonzalo Mancilla, a Santanderean with a verraquera, a purebred Ocamontano, tireless worker all his life in Bucaramanga (Santander), a public accountant by profession and father of a family.
He decided to buy a completely abandoned farm, a dream that he fed on the money paid at the time of giving up his job, betting on reviving his peasant origin. Since before the farm existed, that piece of heaven-made land, had the name San Fernando in homage and eternal memory to his older brother, a pro-man-made charisma, an example of honesty and justice, who faithfully embodied the courageous spirit that through these wild lands of Santander rumbled.
In its beginnings, the farm was abandoned and deforested due to its cattle use, with the main house in ruins, having been dynamited by one of its previous owners, the grandson of a Notary of Piedecuesta. He had - supposedly - buried a "Guaca" or treasure.
It became necessary to build the house from scratch, on the meagre survivors of its old bareque and stone construction. In the beginning, the San Fernando Farm was dedicated to poultry, fish and livestock production, as well as some self-consumption crops.
True to his roots, Don Gonzalo dreamed of venturing into coffee farming, planting a small plot of coffee, and reliving his childhood memories in the middle of the fields and coffee plantations.
At the same time, his youngest son, Gonzalo Mancilla, began his higher studies in Agricultural Engineering in February 2007, having contact there with the influence of academic thought, oriented towards the idea of Sustainability in its three pillars (Social-Environmental -Economic), as the engine of humanity.
In 2009, the first coffee trees were planted with the support from the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers (FNC). At that time, Gonzalo Mancilla (son) decided to enter this exciting world of coffee as the Technical Advisor of the farm.
Today, the added value of the coffees of San Fernando Coffee & Farm SAS has allowed it to position itself as one of the main marketers of excellent specialty green bean coffees. We produce excellent roasted specialty coffees for differentiated regional, national and international markets, with a presence in some of the best restaurants and cafeterias in Santander and Colombia, exporting to countries such as Canada, China and Aruba among others.
San Fernando Coffee & Farm SAS not only sells specialty coffees under its Xeridas Coffees® brand but also builds alliances to represent leading companies in the machinery market for the coffee processing industry and its specialized preparation, such as filters for water, flavourings and other complements for coffee drinks; in agreement with the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association), which represents, trains and certifies personnel with international recognition of the highest quality, in the different fields of the Specialty Coffee value chain.
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Xeridas is an indigenous word which means "similar to the sky". It's how the Guanes referred to the micro-region "Meseta de los Santos" in Santander, a peaceful place that contrasts with their warlike nature, which they preserved until their disappearance.
