- Boozy, Tropical, Plum, Floral
Altitude: about 1900 masl (1857m to be exact)
Farm: La Roca
Vereda: La Armenia
Municipality: Planadas
Department: Tolima
Country: Colombia
IG: @jorgeeliasrojasvas
Also available: Caturra and Yellow Caturra, Gesha, Tabi, Pacamara, Moka, Wush-Wush and Castillo
Jorge was born in Armenia in 1989, and has been working in coffee for 22 years, taking over his family’s farm after his father sadly passed away when he was 12 years old. At this young age he shouldered the responsibility for his family’s fortunes and traded schooling for agricultural work. He is a successful cupper, roaster and farmer. His skill and dedication is obvious to see, and he is pouring all of it into his farm, his family and his community. Since beginning to undertake more in depth professional development in 2017, Jorge has gained a number of qualifications in coffee quality and processing from Cuba Biotech and our friends at Technicafe, including the Q Processing qualification and Pre-Q Arabica Quality training. Jorge’s coffees have been making waves, and the accolades are building up. And he’s showing no signs of slowing down. The list is impressive:
- 1st PlaceTolima Intercenter Aeropress Championship, March 2023
- 2nd Place in the Traditional Category of the Colombian Top Roast competition, 2023
- 2nd Place in the Processing Category of Colombia’s Golden Cup competition, March 2023
- 3rd Place Cup Of Excellence Colombia, 2022
- 1st Place in the Traditional Category of the Colombian Top Roast competition, 2022
-Finalist in Cup of Excellence, 2020
- La Roca took 5th place in the Processed category at Coffee Media Colombia roasting competition , 2020
-10 best Coffees at SCA Expo in Boston; 2020
-Nominated for the title of Coffee Grower of the Year, 2020
-1st Place Overall Planadas Por El Mundo Coffee Auction (with 4 lots averaging +$10/lb)
-1st Place Millenials Competition at Expo Planadas, 2018
He lovingly runs his farm with his son, Felipe at his side. His land is home to a wide variety of endemic bird species, and is surrounded by lush vegetation on steep hillsides and a number of waterfalls. 4.5 hectares are planted with coffee. In addition to the more traditional Caturra and Yellow Caturra, he harvests exotic Gesha, Tabi, Pacamara, Moka, Wush-Wush, and of course this lot of Pink Bourbon. Jorge’s an experienced cupper and is constantly integrating improvements from this feedback loop into both his farm’s infrastructure and processes. Most recently, he expanded his existing covered drying beds with a further bamboo and sheet metal structure. He expertly manages every aspect of the journey from seedling to weeding, pruning, picking, fermentation, processing and drying. He takes a very meticulous, scientific approach to his processes, transforming the ripe fruit into little lots of special green coffee, allowing each one to shine. Jorge shares his approach with other households in the community, giving workshops and talks in collaboration with the ASOPEP coffee association.
La Roca is going from strength to strength, with vertical integration of the value chain extending into preparing roasted coffee from their Probat under the farm’s own brand and engaging visitors to the farm with carefully brewed single serve filter coffee. It’s a smart move. By selling a finished, luxury product, rather than a low value, low margin agricultural commodity, Jorge and his family are able to capture more of the true value of what their land can yield. On the back of his success, Jorge founded his own processing facility last year in Planadas where he currently collaborates with 12 farmers to process and market their coffee.
His little boy, Felipe is even younger than Jorge was when he started out. After school, you’ll find this 5th generation coffee farmer at his dad’s side, roasting samples, checking brix readings on ripe cherries, helping with the work and above all brewing his family’s coffee. At ten years old, he’s already an accomplished brewer, and seems to constantly have a kettle in his hand, making pourovers with is favourite brewers. In a recent development, his brewing skills are in high demand and he’s starting to be hired to appear at coffee trade shows. We fully expect to see him on the competition circuit in the next few years.
When he finds time for himself, he manages to get out on his mountain bike, getting a different perspective on the beautiful scenery of his mountains. You can follow his journey @jorgeeliasrojasvas and @larocastate