Finca El Jardin sits high up at over 1800 meters (over 6000 feet!) in the town of Planadas in the Tolima region. Jorge Elías Rojas is a 4th generation Colombian coffee producer that began learning the basics of running a coffee farm at just 13 years old, gaining invaluable knowledge under his mother’s guidance. Inheriting a portion of his father’s farm and acquiring land from a neighboring farmer, Jorge established his own Finca El Jardin. Family participation plays a vital role in Jorge's coffee cultivation. They work in the fields collaboratively, aiming to innovate and produce exceptional coffee.

He also built a wet mill to be able to purchase and process coffee cherries from neighboring farmers, further enhancing his production. We actually will have a coffee later in the year from all women producers which was processed by Jorge at his wet mill! Jorge's dream is to become a recognized producer in his region, and hopes that his son, currently 10 years old, will become the next generation of coffee producers to carry on the legacy.

Processing
Always looking for ways to improve the quality of his coffee, Jorge has developed his own fermentation and drying processes, starting with a very strict selection of coffee cherries by hand to make sure immature and other low-quality beans are removed. The coffee is placed in sealed tanks for 72 hours, then de-pulped (fruit stripped from the seeds) and fermented again for another 38 hours in the same tanks.

This is a honey processed coffee, so after fermentation, the seeds (aka beans) were separated from the fruit, but the residual fruit and sugar that clings to the seeds is not washed away before the seeds are dried. The coffee seeds are shielded by this layer of dried fruit during an extended drying time. The combination of fruit essence and fermentation can create new layers of flavor on top of the flavors intrinsic to the coffee seed.

The first phase of drying takes place in a mechanical dryer for 28 hours at a constant temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. The coffee is then placed in fique bags for 24 hours in a dark place at an average ambient temperature of 20 to 24 degrees, and then dried again in a greenhouse for 48 hours at a temperature of around 30 to 34 degrees. The coffee is left to rest for another 24 hours in fique sacks and then dried in a mechanical dryer for 48 hours at 38 degrees. The coffee is then cooled, stabilized, and packed in bags.