Paula Concha and her husband, Samuel Roldan, always dreamed of producing coffee. Both were urban professionals. Paula had an outstanding career in banking, becoming a branch manager at one of Colombia´s largest banks.
In 2006, Paula took off her heels, put on her work boots, and moved her office to the hills and coffee plantations of Antioquia. Together with her husband, they founded Finca Santa Elena, located in Ciudad Bolivar, a very traditional and well-known coffee town in the heart of Antioquia’s coffee mountains. There they cultivate and harvest Caturra, Tipica and Borbón varieties.
Paula believes in hard work and professionalism, combined with the power of academic knowledge, and application of best practices for the long-term, sustainable production of high quality and consistent coffee. The farm is driven by sustainability and social innovation, always seeking growth for all members of the value chain.
Finca Santa Elena operates under the premise of triple sustainability: social, environmental (ecological), and financial. It has a state-of-the-art processing facility with an environmentally friendly de-pulper that uses less water and prevents contamination, very clean and organized fermentation tanks, and have developed innovative coffee drying and control processes for their honey and natural coffee, and are developing a glass solar dryer to be one of the most automated and low-environmental-impact driers used today. They have also developed fermentation innovations that have allowed the production of their Natural 20 Brix (the one we call Paula 20 Brix) and of which we are very proud.
The farm also has created a system for scoring the hand-picked cherries and paying premiums to pickers for selective harvesting.
In recent years the Santa Elena farm has received different certifications such as Rain Forest Alliance, 4C and UTZ, they also won the Yara competition (2018 Gold Cup) and was recognized by Asoexport as the most innovative farm in Colombia in 2019.
Clarena’s Coffee invites you to return to the land with a cup of Paula 20 Brix.
