Gentrification: Coffee Country Style

Note: Gabe is traveling to Santa Rosa de Cabal (near Periera) in Colombia to do a 2 week Fullbright Specialist Program Project with La Corporación Universitaria Santa Rosa de Cabal (UNISARC). He’s made a goal to post at least four times (once after returning) to share about this experience.

Having lived in New York and Chicago—and studied in universities both engaged in changing neighborhoods and with strong activist bents pushing back—conversations about gentrification have been a part of my (Gabe’s) life. I was teaching in Harlem at a time (2000s) when townhouses there went from being abandoned and impossible to sell to costing over a million dollars. I was often mistaken for a gentrifier myself.

Similar processes, of course, happen internationally. Areas change drastically as money and attention from travelers and remote workers focus on a particular area. I remember reading media stories about this dynamic through the pandemic when places like Puerto Rico became havens for outside investors and travelers, making life cost-prohibitive for folks whose families, lives, and cultures were rooted there.

What does all this have to do with my Fulbright project with UNISARC in the green coffee country of Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, Colombia? And what does it have to do with my love of coffee?

On the one hand, nothing. So far, I have been able to enjoy the beautiful green scenery, eat a coffee cherry and bean right off the tree, and “saludar” UNISARC’s mascot, Hugo the duck (check out the real thing and symbol below).

Hugo the Duck

On the other hand, it is noteworthy how coffee tourism is playing a role in the day-to-day lives of folks in Santa Rosa.

Perhaps the most surprising takeaway – at least for me – is that it all seems pretty positive. This area of Colombia boasts an energized economy and population, where one can see the pride and growth of coffee tourism alongside the daily hustle and bustle. It is true that the macroeconomic figures are beyond my scope of knowledge, but the local stories abound with mentions of how the area is developing and growing. There is a lot of opportunity happening alongside the coffee tourism.

As a pseudo-tourist and semi-gringo, I must admit I have fully enjoyed what this area has to offer. I have yet to visit an actual coffee farm (spoiler alert: next week I will), but have found time amid the long 11-plus-hour days working with UNISARC to take in some of what it has to offer.

My wonderful host, Andres Perdomo Rojas, took me on a tour of the hot spots and tourist attractions in nearby Pereira, including Inmersso (“El boutique de café”). I spent about 45 minutes picking one to take home, smelling maybe 50 bags without exaggeration. I am pretty sure I gasped when we entered and then fumbled my way through trying to translate “kid in a candy store” for Andres.

Other highlights have included sampling the coffee shops that Santa Rosa has to offer, which range from your corner bakery (no frills, no wifi, and pigeons hopping their way across the floor) to the old, refurbished buildings in the center, to the oases clearly made for tourists that feel more chic than almost any spot I’ve come across in Milwaukee. Below is the middle of the three, complete with koi in a tiny fountain in the middle of the more than 100 year old building.

In contrast, as you can see below, the vibe in the “gentrified” coffee shop is certainly quite comfortable and appears, at least walking around, like it hasn’t displaced the multitude of local coffee options. These range from the people on the streets with thermoses selling a cup of tinto for 10 cents to the aforementioned bakeries. 

All of this to say, my personal takeaway is positive in assessing how coffee—and the tourism industry that has developed around it—has worked its gentrification powers on Santa Rosa. I definitely need to get more into what lies underneath, but it is a nice breath of fresh air in some ways from the clear ways coffee shops are a sign and a drive of these processes in other places I have seen.

Addendum: Andres’ response to my assessment: sí y no. He noted that places like this last one are not for locals, and that out in the countryside, land is being bought up for tourist farms and removed from the local farmers who worked it for generations. He also mentioned that places like this one thrive on the local identity, but do not actually contribute to this flavor.

So, all in all, it’s clear I am still learning!