Remember what life was like at 19? That adolescent sun setting as a new area of adulthood began? Travel, trade school, dorm life, clubbing — whatever you were up to, it probably wasn’t coffee-farming.
But one ambitious 19-year-old in Colombia grew this very coffee, and we are beyond impressed. Juan Pablo Ortega fell in love with coffee as a young boy, and at the age of 14, he sold the cattle he had raised and bought his first plot of land. On it he planted 500 Pink Bourbon coffee trees, followed by an additional 1500. And while recently his ambitions have turned to a degree in Civil Engineering, he says his mind is always on the farm.
Juan may be the youngest producer we’ve ever bought coffee from, and the mix of fruity florals and citrus in the cup are a perfectly sweet nod to a new generation of farmers. The future of coffee is in their hands, and this one gives us great hope!
