Colombia – Rodrigo Palaez

Info

The coffee is produced by Rodrigo Pelaez. I met Rodrigo Pelaez about 5 years ago which coincided with the change in the Colombian Coffee Federation policies making natural coffee exportation more permissible. Rodrigo was just beginning his natural process and prologued fermentation experiments, and we embarked on the journey together. We began by experimenting with different processing parameters and methods, and we learned from a continuous feedback loop by cupping and sending samples to roasting partners in the US.

Laderas del Tapias Estate is divided into 4 different farming plots (Villa Ines, Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico, y Graciela). In addition to running his farm Laderas del Tapias, Rodrigo is a dentist in a nearby city called Manizales, and he also writes a column about coffee in his local newspaper (La Patria). He is community-minded and shares my passion for working with smaller coffee producers around Colombia. In November 2018 I attended a lecture that Rodrigo was invited to present at Harvard University about structuring supply chains to add value to producers.

After years of experiments, we have established parameters and a quantitative approach to processing naturals, which includes floating in-cherry fermentation, and silo drying intervals over the course of 2-3 weeks (with strategic repose periods). I am proud to say that this is the most consistent and repeatable natural process I have seen in Colombia.