Since 2017, in Juan Valdez we decided to incorporate a gender equity approach as a fundamental pillar in the value generation strategy with the Colombia community. Program, which seeks to make visible the importance of 157 thousand women, who represent approximately 30% of coffee growing in Colombia, and thanks to its implementation, what started as a special edition of coffee, becomes our line edition “MUJERES CAFETERAS”

We want to promote the social and economic empowerment of women coffee growers through the commercialization of their coffee, encouraging good practices with a focus on gender equity.

At Juan Valdez we want to offer you the best of our coffee.En Juan Valdez queremos ofrecerte lo mejor de nuestro café

We work with pride and enthusiasm with the objective of continuing to contribute to the development of the countryside and to the more than 540,000 coffee growing families, promoting the consumption of premium coffee, export type, 100% Colombian, this time, reaching all the stores in our country.

This is our commitment, because as a Colombian, you deserve to drink a quality coffee.

Ask for them at your nearest neighborhood store.

Sergio has plans for marriage and represented Colombia at the International Leadership Meeting in the United States. With the savings from his job, Diego bought an apartment. Eyner finished high school and dreams of studying automotive mechanics to become a micro-entrepreneur. They are part of Amigos del Alma, a program of Best Buddies Colombia that, thanks to the support of partners such as Juan Valdez®, offers more than 500 Colombians with intellectual disabilities the possibility of having a job.

Seeing how these men and women, regardless of their condition, give the best of themselves in their work, has sensitized the other collaborators of the company, they are responsible, honest, and their commitment is reflected in the care of every detail in their coffee preparations.

For nine years, Amigos del Alma have been working in Juan Valdez® stores, serving customers, preparing drinks and performing the same functions as other employees. “It’s breaking that barrier or paradigm that we suddenly have of a person with a disability. Personally, I have experienced it and working with them means seeing another way of being, and the contribution is very beneficial and is a majority at the business level,” says one of the bar leaders.

For the Coordinator of the program at Juan Valdez®, employers should give themselves the opportunity to learn about the world of disability and take advantage of this available human resource. This program has raised awareness among employees who are close to a Soul Friend, who are now more aware that this is a reality that can also touch them.
From the Amigos del Alma, one learns to care about others and to give more than others expect, says the coordinator. Thanks to the work she shares with Eyner, a young man with cognitive disabilities who pays debts and helps his family with his work, she also understood that there are no limits, that like any other Juan Valdez® employee, they have the same skills and desire to learn, always looking for the way to go further.

With their work, people with cognitive limitations are achieving their goals. That is why at Juan Valdez® we will continue to support labor inclusion in our environment.

With the help of Rafael Fernando Amaya, sustainability director of the Siembre un Árbol Foundation, every week we collect around two tons of soil residues, which instead of ending up in landfills, generating CO2 emissions, are taken to a farm in San Francisco, Cundinamarca. There, with Rafael’s help, we take advantage of the properties and nutrients in the compost to grow Orellana mushrooms, Ganoderma lucidum mushrooms and make compost.

“The idea is to give added value to the waste because the problem is not generating garbage but what we do with it,” says Amaya. Of a cup of coffee you enjoy only 5 percent; the remaining 95 percent of the bean waste is converted into coffee grounds, rich in iron and protein, which, among other benefits, is used to recover soils and cultivate mushrooms for medicinal and nutritional purposes.

With Orellana mushrooms, which have more protein than chicken and are low in cholesterol, different restaurants in the city prepare a number of dishes. Ganoderma lucidum strengthens the immune system of cancer patients and minimizes tumor formation.

Likewise, the fungus cultivated on the coffee residues is also used to develop medicines to treat chronic kidney diseases and to produce fertilizer for food plantations such as radish and carrots, reforestation projects and the planting of trees and plants.

We feel a deep respect for nature and our goal for the preservation of the environment is born in the coffee plantations. With the use of the coffee waste, we want to give a respite to the Planet and dispose of its benefits for the benefit of people, fauna and the ecosystem.
‍
This April 22nd, in the JW Marriott store, we will be planting aromatic plants in our cups with the compost that results from the coffee grounds. Just as in Juan Valdez® we take advantage of coffee waste, with the intention of reducing the rate of garbage, may Earth Day be a pretext for you to start living in harmony with the planet, in the end, we can all be responsible consumers and together help preserve the environment.