Maria, the Soul That Seasons Primitivo’s Story

Every farm has someone who gives flavor to the day —someone who turns work into home, and a lunch break into an act of care. At Café Primitivo, that person is María Marulanda, a woman who has turned cooking into a bridge between the land, memory, and gratitude.

“I’ve worked in the countryside my whole life,” she says, smiling with the calm confidence of someone whose hands know both soil and fire. She was born in Montenegro, Quindío. “My family wasn’t from the fields,” she explains, “but José’s was. When we got together, over thirty-four years ago, his life became mine too.”Since then, the aroma of coffee and home cooked meals have accompanied her every day.

Maria never studied gastronomy nor followed a recipe book. Her school was her family kitchen. By the time she was thirteen, she was already preparing meals for her parents and seven siblings. “We were four girls and four boys,” she laughs, “but no one liked my sisters’ cooking. Every day, I had to be the one to cook.”That’s when she discovered that cooking was her way of caring.

Cooking with Love, Serving with Gratitude

At Finca Primavera, where she’s worked for years, María is in charge of feeding the harvest crews, technical staff, and visitors from all over the world. She doesn’t rely on recipes or exact measurements her secret is in her heart.“The first thing,” she says, “is to do everything with enthusiasm, with love, and with gratitude. Because we must be thankful for what we have and what God allows us to have and that’s something we should share with others.”

For Maria, cooking is a language of connection. Her greatest satisfaction is seeing everyone enjoy their meal. “Imagine spending all day cooking and then nobody eats because it’s bad… That would be hard. So I make sure everything’s well done, well-seasoned, and delicious.”

Flavor Also Sustains a Culture

Beyond taste, her work plays a quiet but essential role in the coffee chain. She knows it well:“Good food is fundamental. I’ve seen workers leave other farms because the food was bad or there wasn’t enough. Here, they eat well, they’re satisfied and that makes them stay.”

Every dish she prepares includes ingredients grown right on the farm beans, plantains, yucca, freshly harvested corn. Her kitchen becomes part of Primitivo’s sustainable rhythm: nothing is wasted, everything returns to the land.

A Blessing Called Primitivo

When asked what working at Café Primitivo means to her, she doesn’t hesitate:“It’s a blessing. The unity, the trust they place in us… you don’t find that everywhere.”

And maybe that’s why every plate that leaves her kitchen carries a touch of gratitude. In Primitivo’s story, María represents all those women who, from the kitchen, sustain the soul of coffee farms the silent guardians of tradition, care, and memory.