A few weeks ago, our sustainability team visited the Sumapaz páramo, just outside Bogotá, to check in on the native trees planted last year in partnership with Colombian NGO Cumbres Blancas (see our full vlog here). The visit was part of an ongoing restoration initiative launched for Earth Day 2025 through our limited edition Terra Verde Organic coffee, where we committed to planting one native tree for every bag sold.

High in the Colombian mountains, the páramo, an ecosystem unique to the Andes, holds and releases the water that flows down to farms below. It helps regulate climate, protect biodiversity, and support the livelihoods of thousands of coffee-growing families. Through the Earth Day initiative, our goal was to support the restoration of two of Colombia’s most important páramo ecosystems: Moyas and Sumapaz.

The páramos are high-altitude grasslands found exclusively in the tropical Andes and are among the most biodiverse mountain ecosystems on the planet. Their soils and vegetation, particularly the frailejón, act as natural sponges, capturing moisture from fog and rain and slowly releasing it into streams and rivers that supply drinking water and energy to millions of people downstream. Páramo landscapes supply water to over 70 percent of Colombia’s population, including the capital city of Bogotá. When these ecosystems are degraded through deforestation, agricultural expansion, or climate change, every household, farm, and city that depends on that water feels the impact.

Our restoration partner, Cumbres Blancas, is a Colombian NGO dedicated to the protection and restoration of mountain ecosystems, including glaciers and páramos. Founded by Marcela Fernández after learning that most of Colombia’s tropical glacial ice had already disappeared, the organization was born out of both urgency and a deep conviction that these landscapes must be brought closer to people’s everyday lives. Through interdisciplinary work across scientific research, ecological restoration, and community engagement, Cumbres Blancas promotes the protection of native species such as the frailejón, a unique plant that helps retain soil stability, regulate water flows, and support biodiversity in páramo landscapes.

Working alongside Cumbres Blancas, we saw firsthand how restoration requires both technical knowledge and long-term commitment. Species selection, planting conditions, and ongoing care all matter. This is slow work, but necessary work. To date, more than 350 native trees have been planted through the initiative, helping restore and protect ecosystems that are essential not only to Colombia’s biodiversity, but also to the communities and landscapes that make our coffee possible.