Nearly 50 years ago, Juan Valdez stepped forward from the heart of Colombia—where the sun and secrets of the land ripen coffee to perfection high in the Andes Mountains. His mission, together with his loyal mule, has been to represent the proud traditions of Colombia’s rural coffee growers. 100% handpicked beans. 100% commitment to quality. 100% stewardship of the land.

For years he has warmed our days and stirred our senses with the richest coffee in the world. And in the process become famous himself—as much for his iconic mustache and straw hat, as for his good humor, sense of adventure, and his appearances on television, in movies and in print. But Juan is perhaps most beloved for just being Juan. Stubbornly unchanged. A deep believer in the simple things. Forever familiar and reliable. Like an old friend.

Today, the spirit of Juan Valdez lives on in Carlos Castañeda, a 39-year-old rural coffee grower from Andes in the Antioquia region of Colombia and father of three children. Carlos has been selected to fill the role of Juan Valdez following the retirement of Carlos Sanchez, also a grower from Antioquia who has embodied Juan Valdez since 1969.

Raised in a family of “cafeteros,” the Spanish word for Colombia’s coffee growers, Carlos Castañeda knows first hand the importance of coffee growing to the millions of families in Colombia who depend on it for their livelihoods and make it their way of life.

The Colombian cafeteros, through their cooperative organization, The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, selected Carlos Castañeda following an extensive two-year search of Colombia’s diverse coffee growing regions. From the fertile slopes of Magdelena and Bucaramanga in the North to the lush hills of Cauca, Huila and Nariño in the South. A field of thousands, and then hundreds, was narrowed down to one man who, once again, will step forward to be the ambassador of Colombia’s cafeteros to the world.

Some things change, even the man behind Juan Valdez. Other things—like the time-honored traditions of the cafeteros he represents and their unwillingness to settle for less than the best—thankfully never will.